Three U.S. states, D.C. sue Google over location-tracking

Washington, January 24 (Reuters)-Texas, Indiana, Washington, District of Columbia sues Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) On Monday, about what is called a deceptive location tracking practice that violates the user’s privacy.

Attorney General Karl Racine’s office said in a statement, “Google mistakenly states that by changing account and device settings, customers can protect their privacy and manage personal data that the company can access. I made him believe. “

Still, Google states that it “systematically monitors customers and benefits from customer data,” calling this practice “a clear breach of consumer privacy.”

“The Attorney General is proceeding with proceedings based on inaccurate and outdated claims about our settings. We always have privacy features built into our products and location data,” said Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson. We have provided robust control of ourselves. We actively protect ourselves and set records. Straight. “

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that even if users tried to stop it, Google misleaded consumers by keeping track of their location.

Google has a “location history” setting that tells users that “the location you went to isn’t saved anymore” when the user turns it off, Texas said.

Google “continues to track the user’s location through other settings and methods that cannot be properly disclosed,” Texas said.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Google earned about $ 150 billion from advertising in 2020. “Location data is key to Google’s advertising business, and as a result, there is a financial incentive to discourage users from refraining from accessing that data,” Ferguson’s office said in a statement Monday.

May 2020, Arizona has filed a similar proceeding To Google over collecting user location data. The proceeding is pending.

“The surprising allegations in this bipartisan proceeding by the four Attorney Generals continue to mislead, deceive, and prioritize tech companies’ interests over protecting user privacy,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. It shows that it is. “

“Parliament must urgently respond to this moment of the privacy crisis by passing comprehensive legislation that provides the privacy protection that Americans need and deserve,” he said.

Report by David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu. Additional report by Nate Raymond. Edited by Marguerita Choy and Lisa Shumaker

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.