Google To Cough Up $392M For User Privacy Breach

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today, along with 39 other state attorneys general, announced a landmark $391.5 million settlement with Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google over its location tracking practices.
Google misled its users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings when, in fact, Google continued to collect their location information.
Google has agreed to improve its location tracking disclosures significantly and user controls starting in 2023.
A 2018 Associated Press article that revealed Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to” triggered the investigation.
The article focused on two Google account settings: Location History and Web & App Activity. Location History is “off” unless a user turns on the setting.
Still, Web & App Activity, a separate account setting, is automatic “on” when users set up a Google account, including all Android users.
The attorneys general found that Google violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers about its location-tracking practices since at least 2014.
Specifically, by adjusting their account and device settings, Google confused its users about the extent to which they could limit Google’s location tracking.
Google looks to “provide a new control that allows users to easily turn off their Location History and Web & App Activity settings and delete their past data in one simple flow.”
Google also plans to add additional disclosures to its Activity controls and Data & Privacy pages.
The Federal Trade Commission weighed a rule that would expand online privacy protections by targeting online surveillance and lax data-security practices by technology companies, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Congress also explored bipartisan legislation to give Americans more control over their data.
Google held $116.3 billion in cash and equivalents as of September 30.
Image by Deepanker Verma from Pixabay

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