It’s accused of tracking location history without permission and using so-called dark patterns
Google is no stranger to lawsuits, and last year, some documents detailing its disregard for user privacy came to light. The company was said to have redesigned its settings menu to make it harder to find or understand the options to switch off location tracking. And, even when the user did manage to opt out of direct data collection successfully, Google may have used other complex approaches to figure out the location of its users. In a similar turn of events, the attorneys general of three states and DC are now suing Google for the alleged deceptive collection of location data on Android.
The states of Indiana, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia filed separate lawsuits on Monday, 24 January alleging that Google deceived users for at least 5 years — from 2014 to 2019 — by making them believe that turning off Location History would prevent their whereabouts from being tracked (TheVerge reports). Instead, the AGs alleged that Google still tracked users’ locations unless they turned off the Web and App Activity setting, which Google describes as a way to personalize the user experience by saving searches and activities. They also mentioned that Web and App Activity is enabled for all Google accounts by default, and the company failed to disclose this detail to users during account creation.
The new lawsuit shares many aspects with a similar one started by Arizona’s Attorney General in 2020. The main difference here, according to Karl Racine (D.C. Attorney General), is that this suit includes a focus on dark patterns — basically, design choices aimed at forcing users toward certain decisions, such as visual misdirection, complicated navigation menus, confusing wording, and repeated nudging. The AGs also accuse Google of profiting from said deception by using such data to boost its advertising business.
Finally, the lawsuits requested the court sanction the big G by requesting it to not only offload any monetary profits but, perhaps surprisingly, the algorithms created with the supposed ill-gotten gains. Racine said this rather unique request is meant to deter other companies from using similar deception tactics.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said that the AGs’ claims about its settings are inaccurate and the assertions outdated. Castañeda added that the company updated how it communicates to users about location settings, even letting users automatically delete location data starting in June 2019, before setting new accounts to auto-delete by default in June 2020. Google has declared its intention to defend itself and set the record straight.
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