Google today settled a privacy lawsuit with a coalition of 40 attorneys general. Google agreed to pay $391.5 million for misleading location history settings the company used from 2014-2020.
Google’s Location History settings have gotten it into trouble with several regulatory bodies. The move started after a 2018 Associated Press article pointed out that the “Location History” checkbox didn’t manage Google’s entire location history across your entire account, and that many location tracking features were under a second checkbox called “Web – and app activity’. Consumers might uncheck the “Location History” box, thinking it stopped all Google location tracking, but it was really just for a single Google Maps feature. Google lost a 2021 case in Australia over this setting and recently settled a separate lawsuit with Arizona for $85 million A few other states have pending lawsuits.
Google has redesigned its privacy settings several times since the AP article, and in a blog post about the settlement, Google said the ruling was “based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago.” As part of the settlement, Google promises to make more changes to its privacy settings in “the coming months”.
- Redesign of user information hubs: To explain how location data improves our services, we add additional disclosures to our Activity Options and Data & Privacy pages. We’re also creating a single, comprehensive information hub that highlights key location settings to help people make informed choices about their data.
- Simplified removal of location data: We’re providing a new control that allows users to easily turn off their Location History and Web & App Activity settings and delete their previous data in one simple flow. We will also continue to remove Location History data for users who have not recently added new Location History data to their account.
- Updated account configuration: We’re giving users who set up new accounts a more detailed explanation of what Web & App Activity is, what information it contains, and how it helps their Google experience.
Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon’s attorney general, summed up the lawsuit, saying, “For years, Google has prioritized profit over the privacy of people using Google products and services. Consumers thought they had their location tracking features turned off on Google.” ‘, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.”
Google’s business model is almost entirely about tracking people and using that data to show them relevant ads across the web. The company’s last annual report showed $282 billion in revenue, so for “years” of privacy violations, that $392 million settlement equates to about 12 hours of revenue.
