Google has reportedly paid virtually $400 million to settle a category motion lawsuit alleging the corporate tracked consumer places, even after they had made efforts to turn the feature off.
The reported $391.5m settlement (by way of New York Times) is nearly 5 years within the making and comes after an Related Press investigation discovered that Google continued following customers GPS places, even when customers had explicitly opted out.
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The group of attorneys normal from 40 US states argued that Google had misled customers on iOS and Android. Even when customers paused the “Location Historical past” characteristic on their gadgets, Google continued to silently monitor their actions within the background. The go well with alleged Google would then promote the information to advertisers.
Google has revealed a weblog on Monday confirming a settlement, however not the quantity. The corporate stated the case pertained to “outdated product insurance policies that we modified years in the past”. Google additionally says “we will likely be making updates within the coming months to supply even higher controls and transparency over location knowledge.”
Google says these updates embody the simplified deletion of location knowledge, which Google says “permits customers to simply flip off their Location Historical past and Net & App Exercise settings and delete their previous knowledge in a single easy circulate. We’ll additionally proceed deleting Location Historical past knowledge for customers who haven’t not too long ago contributed new Location Historical past knowledge to their account.”
Google says it’s revamping its consumer info hubs to make sure customers know that location knowledge can really be helpful for them too, whereas the corporate can be making it simpler to make “knowledgeable selections” about their knowledge.
Lastly, while you arrange a brand new account, Google will present extra detailed info on what customers are literally signing up for. “Right this moment’s settlement is one other step alongside the trail of giving extra significant selections and minimizing knowledge assortment whereas offering extra useful companies,” the corporate provides within the blog post.
In response to the settlement, Oregon Lawyer Common Ellen Rosenblum stated (by way of The Verge): “For years Google has prioritised revenue over their customers’ privateness. Shoppers thought that they had turned off their location monitoring options on Google, however the firm continued to secretly document their actions and use that info for advertisers.”
