Google sued for misuse of tracking geolocation data



digital

A lawsuit filed in a federal court accuses Google of failing to respect the privacy of people by tracking the whereabouts of smartphone users, despite the deactivation of the location & # 39; Location History & # 39; The action filed by a Californian on Friday aims for unspecified compensation and a court action in the class action to represent all US users of iPhone or Android who have turned off location history so that their movements are not registered by Google.

"Google specifically indicated to users of the operating system and applications that activating certain parameters would prevent tracking of users' geographic location", the document reads. "This statement was incorrect."

Based on a press article confirmed by university researchers, the petition accuses Google of violating the law on privacy protection. Google did not want to comment.

Since the article last week, Google, owned by Alphabet, has changed the support page. It now reads that disabling location history does not affect other location services on your device & # 39 ;.

Location data can also be collected when using other services, such as maps or search, according to the help page.

The page previously stated that disabling the location history meant that the places visited were not stored by Google.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic), a non-profit public interest organization, said it has sent a letter to the US Federal Trade Commission to find out if Google has violated a 2011 consent agreement. .

"Subsequent changes by Google in its policies, after they have already obtained the location data from internet users, do not comply with the 2011 rules," Epic said in his letter.


Source link

Leave a Reply