Google fined $93 million for deceiving users about tracking

"Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing -
that it would no longer track their location once they opted out - but
doing the opposite and continuing to track its users' movements for its own
commercial gain. That's unacceptable, and we're holding Google accountable
with today's settlement," said Bonta.

Bonta claims that Google misled consumers about how it gathered, stored,
and used location data in a complaint filed with the proposed stipulated
judgment. For instance, the complaint asserts that Google users were told
in disclaimers that disabling the "Location History" feature would prevent
Google from storing their location information.

However, even after that move was made, Google continued to gather the
user's location information from other sources.

Under the new decision, Google must agree to a variety of injunctive
restrictions that will safeguard the privacy rights of Californians and
other citizens around the world. Users will now be able to see more
information if location-related account options are enabled.

Google will also increase the degree of openness regarding location
tracking and publish a "Location Technologies" webpage that provides
visitors with comprehensive information about the location data that Google
gathers and how it is utilized.

Users must continue to be vigilant and evaluate and modify their privacy
settings to reflect their preferences and be constantly aware of how Google
collects and uses their data.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/google-fined-93-million-for-deceiving-users-about-tracking

Followups trimmed to: alt.comp.software.firefox

In alt.comp.software.firefox Oscar Mayer <nobody@oscarmayer.com> wrote:
> Google fined $93 million for deceiving users about tracking

To Google, that is just change found under the sofa's cushions :(
Or in another way, the cost of doing business.

If 93 Billion USD, then maybe they would stop.

> "Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one
> thing - that it would no longer track their location once they opted
> out - but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users'
> movements for its own commercial gain. That's unacceptable, and we're
> holding Google accountable with today's settlement," said Bonta.

This is happening on my Android Cell even though I opp'd out,
no surprise for me.

It reminds me of the old "do not call lists" for telemarketers,
all that did is give them real Phone Numbers that that can
call from outside of US.

<snip>

--
[t]csh(1) - "An elegant shell, for a more... civilized age."
- Paraphrasing Star Wars

On 11/21/2023 2:54 AM, John McCue wrote:

>> Google fined $93 million for deceiving users about tracking
>
> To Google, that is just change found under the sofa's cushions :(
> Or in another way, the cost of doing business.
>
> If 93 Billion USD, then maybe they would stop.

Same with Arizona's $85 Million settlement at about the same time.
https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-lawsuits-arizona-440a27f1e7c2c672d3ccc727439978b4

It follows up on a $392 Million settlement with 40 states.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136521305/google-settlement-location-tracking-data-privacy

But just as with Apple, Google doesn't ever admit wrongdoing.
https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/managing-your-location-data/

So it didn't happen.

Oscar Mayer <nobody@oscarmayer.com> wrote:
> Google fined $93 million for deceiving users about tracking
>
> "Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing -
> that it would no longer track their location once they opted out - but
> doing the opposite and continuing to track its users' movements

https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Filed%20stamped%20Google%20Complaint.pdf

The lawsuit (pdf above) came along with a same-day settlement
(pdf below) for $93 million to be paid to the state's general fund.

https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Google%20Proposed%20Order%20FINAL%20%283%29.pdf

It is around half a percent of Google's Q2 2023 net income of $18 billion.

On 20/11/2023, Peter wrote:

>> "Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing -
>> that it would no longer track their location once they opted out - but
>> doing the opposite and continuing to track its users' movements
>
> https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Filed%20stamped%20Google%20Complaint.pdf

5. Google offers users three features, each with an "account level
setting," through which Google collects, stores, and/or uses
located-related data: Location History, Web & App Activity, and Ads
Personalization. These three settings are "account level" because they can
be enabled or disabled on a user-by-user basis within the user's account
settings. Generally speaking, they are not device specific. As a result,
for a particular Google account, Location History, Web & App Activity, and
Ads Personalization would either be on or off, regardless of how many
devices or apps were used to log into the account. Notably, these three
settings differ from device-based settings, such as the toggle to turn on a
phone's GPS or the app permissions that give particular apps access to that
GPS data if enabled.

6. As discussed further below, many users did not know of or understand
Google's Location History and Web & App Activity settings, yet had
unwittingly enabled them due to Google's deceptive disclosures, thereby
allowing Google to track their precise location. In addition, Google
misrepresented that when users disabled Ads Personalization it would stop
using the user's location to target advertisements to those users, when in
fact it continued to do so.

GOOGLE DECEIVED USERS INTO ENABLING THE LOCATION HISTORY SETTING.

7. Location History continually tracks a person's movements and the places
they visit. When Location History is enabled, Google receives a person's
updated location from their mobile phone. Google then creates a detailed
record of a user's movements and place visits over time, storing this under
the user's Maps Timeline. Google also stores information derived from
Location History in other systems not visible to a user.

8. Location History gives Google detailed insights into people's
whereabouts and activities. Google can track when users arrive at and
leave a location. Location History collects and stores such records about
each person every single day.

9. When a user creates a Google account, the Location History setting is
supposedly off by default; however, from 2014 to 2018, Google showed users
deceptive prompts when they used certain Google apps to mislead users into
unwittingly enabling Location History.

10. For example, when using Google Maps, Google showed users a pop-up that
asked if the person wished to "[e]nhance [their] Google Maps experience"
because "Google needs to periodically store your location to improve your
search suggestions, route recommendations and more." However, by enabling
this "enhancement," the user unknowingly turned on Location History, which
allowed Google to collect and store the user's location account-wide-even
outside Maps. By simply clicking on the button labelled "Yes, I'm in"
within Google Maps, users were actually consenting to the collection and
use of their location data 24/7 by Google. Defendant also failed to
disclose the material fact that it was also using the location data for the
wholly unrelated purpose of profiling the user for advertising purposes.

GOOGLE MISLED USERS INTO BELIEVING THEY HAD CONTROL OVER GOOGLE'S
COLLECTION AND USE OF THEIR LOCATION DATA.

11. For years, Google promised its users that if they turned off the
"Location History" setting, then Google would not store their location
data. This assurance should already have been implied from the name of the
setting (i.e., if you turn off "Location History" then naturally the
company will not store your location history), but Google went further. It
made its promise explicit in clear language on the help page for Location
History that left no room for ambiguity:

12. This statement was clear and direct, and it was also false. Even when
a user turned Location History off, Google continued to collect and store
that user's location data through other sources, including a user's Web &
App Activity, which has been (and continues to be) defaulted to on when a
user creates a Google account. The Location History help page statement is
also false because even after a user turned off Location History, Google
would not delete the previously collected Location History data for the
user, but would continue to both store and use the data to serve
geotargeted ads.

13. Web & App Activity saves a record of a user's activities on various
Google products and services, including a time-stamped location. As
observed in a highly publicized AP article, with Location
History off, Google continued recording user locations when they merely
opened the Google Maps app, updated the daily weather on their phones, or
even when they searched for items that had nothing at
all to do with their location, like "chocolate chip cookies." [1]
[1] Nakashima, AP Exclusive: Google Tracks Your Location, Like it or Not,
AP News (Aug. 13, 2018)
<https://apnews.com/article/north-america-science-technology-business-ap-top-news-828aefab64d4411bac257a07c1af0ecb>.

14. Importantly, from around 2015 until 2019, Web & App Activity collected
and stored precise location data, meaning the exact latitude and longitude
coordinate. On any given day, a user could have had dozens of interactions
with Google's services generating dozens of records of their precise
location in Web & App Activity.

15. Generally, most users have Web & App Activity enabled because for years
Google didn't give users a choice to turn it off and Google's more recent
account creation process defaulted users into enabling Web & App Activity.
To change the default setting for Web & App Activity, users had to dig
through a submenu during account creation. And repeatedly, Google stated
that Web & App Activity merely "saves your activity on Google sites and
apps" without specifying that this included location data associated with
that activity, let alone that the company would use it for profiling and
advertising.

GOOGLE DECEIVED USERS ABOUT THEIR ABILITY TO OPT OUT OF GEOTARGETED ADS.

16. The third account level setting is Ads Personalization. This setting
governs the degree to which Google tailors advertisements on its massive
advertising network to its users, including the extent to which Google uses
location information to profile and target ads to consumers. But even when
this setting is disabled, Google still uses people's location to geotarget
ads at them.

17. When users create an account, Google seemingly gives users the choice
of whether to receive advertisements personalized to them:

18. Users naturally assumed this means what it says: if they choose the
option labeled "Show me ads that aren't personalized" then Google will not
serve ads personalized to them. But that is not true. Even if a user
turns off this setting, Google still uses the user's real-time location
information to serve them targeted ads. Thus, contrary to the plain
language of the setting options, users are not actually able to choose
whether the ads they see are personalized to them.

Am 21.11.23 um 03:38 schrieb Oscar Mayer:
> Bonta claims that Google misled consumers about how it gathered, stored,
> and used location data in a complaint filed with the proposed stipulated
> judgment. For instance, the complaint asserts that Google users were told
> in disclaimers that disabling the "Location History" feature would prevent
> Google from storing their location information.
>
> However, even after that move was made, Google continued to gather the
> user's location information from other sources.

Surprised?
*Google is evil*
Every Android user is naive. Only the switch to an iPhone or even better
to a Linux smartphone would really improve the situation.

The fine should have 10^2 or 10^3 times higher.

--
"Gutta cavat lapidem." (Ovid)

Jörg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:
> Am 21.11.23 um 03:38 schrieb Oscar Mayer:
>> Bonta claims that Google misled consumers about how it gathered, stored,
>> and used location data in a complaint filed with the proposed stipulated
>> judgment. For instance, the complaint asserts that Google users were told
>> in disclaimers that disabling the "Location History" feature would prevent
>> Google from storing their location information.
>>
>> However, even after that move was made, Google continued to gather the
>> user's location information from other sources.
>
> Surprised?
> *Google is evil*
> Every Android user is naive. Only the switch to an iPhone or even better
> to a Linux smartphone would really improve the situation.
>
> The fine should have 10^2 or 10^3 times higher.
>

That’s pretty childish, jughead.

Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> Jörg Lorenz <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:
> > Am 21.11.23 um 03:38 schrieb Oscar Mayer:
> >> Bonta claims that Google misled consumers about how it gathered, stored,
> >> and used location data in a complaint filed with the proposed stipulated
> >> judgment. For instance, the complaint asserts that Google users were told
> >> in disclaimers that disabling the "Location History" feature would prevent
> >> Google from storing their location information.
> >>
> >> However, even after that move was made, Google continued to gather the
> >> user's location information from other sources.
> >
> > Surprised?
> > *Google is evil*
> > Every Android user is naive. Only the switch to an iPhone or even better
> > to a Linux smartphone would really improve the situation.
> >
> > The fine should have 10^2 or 10^3 times higher.
>
> That?s pretty childish, jughead.

Not only that, but this issue isn't about Android at all, so switching
to iPhone or Linux or whatever isn't relevant, nor going to help.

But I guess Apple zealots / Android bashers can't be bothered with
'details' like that!

On 21 Nov 2023 12:23:55 GMT, Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Not only that, but this issue isn't about Android at all, so switching
> to iPhone or Linux or whatever isn't relevant, nor going to help.

It's obvious you didn't read either the original article nor the associated
PDF as it's very much about Android and every operating system & browser.

It's about signing into the Google Account.
And it's about collecting personal data Google said they didn't collect.
And the remediation & punishment thereof for doing that.

If we had to choose what it's most about, it would directly affect anyone
using Google Maps which is probably mostly Android and iOS devices, but
people use Google maps on the desktop too.

But it was more than just location data.

It's also about the information Google gathered with the web browser
because it's related to the Google Account that people often sign into
using their favorite web browser.

If there was a Chrome group, it would be relevant to them also.

On Mon, 20 Nov 2023 22:52:49 -0500, Larry Wolff wrote:
> But just as with Apple, Google doesn't ever admit wrongdoing.
> https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/managing-your-location-data/

Virtually no corporation ever admits wrongdoing in a settlement. Such
an admission could be used against them, in a criminal case.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On 11/21/2023 3:10 PM, Stan Brown wrote:

>> But just as with Apple, Google doesn't ever admit wrongdoing.
>> https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/managing-your-location-data/
>
> Virtually no corporation ever admits wrongdoing in a settlement. Such
> an admission could be used against them, in a criminal case.

I know that, and you know that, but take a look at an Apple newsgroup and
you will see them constantly claim Apple didn't do it because Apple paid
half a billion dollars just because US lawyers were trying to scam them.

There was even a criminal case against Apple which Apple settled and paid
the criminal fine without pleading guilty (they agreed to some kind of no
contest or something like that and had to pay & publish a public apology).

The Apple people said because Apple wasn't "convicted" by a court, that the
French prosecutors were only trying to extort Apple for more money.

And, after the 30 days expired for the public apology on the Apple France
web page, the Apple people said it didn't happen because Apple removed it.

That's why I joked, since Google didn't admit guilt, it didn't happen. :->

Oscar Mayer <nobody@oscarmayer.com> wrote:
> On 21 Nov 2023 12:23:55 GMT, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> > Not only that, but this issue isn't about Android at all, so switching
> > to iPhone or Linux or whatever isn't relevant, nor going to help.
>
> It's obvious you didn't read either the original article nor the associated
> PDF as it's very much about Android and every operating system & browser.

Easy does it! You obviously did not read or did not comprehend my
post.

I wrote what I wrote, because I *did* read the article and Joerg
clearly did *not*.

> It's about signing into the Google Account.

Exactly. So - contrary to your above statement - it's *not* about
Android - the OS -, but about the user's Google Account.

Such a Google Account can be used on any platform, not just Android,
hence my comment.

> And it's about collecting personal data Google said they didn't collect.
> And the remediation & punishment thereof for doing that.
>
> If we had to choose what it's most about, it would directly affect anyone
> using Google Maps which is probably mostly Android and iOS devices, but
> people use Google maps on the desktop too.

Indeed, all platforms, not just Android and not just mobile.

> But it was more than just location data.
>
> It's also about the information Google gathered with the web browser
> because it's related to the Google Account that people often sign into
> using their favorite web browser.
>
> If there was a Chrome group, it would be relevant to them also.

Thanks for confirming my point(s).

On 22 Nov 2023 15:36:21 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid>
wrote:

>Oscar Mayer <nobody@oscarmayer.com> wrote:
>> On 21 Nov 2023 12:23:55 GMT, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>>
>> > Not only that, but this issue isn't about Android at all, so switching
>> > to iPhone or Linux or whatever isn't relevant, nor going to help.
>>
>> It's obvious you didn't read either the original article nor the associated
>> PDF as it's very much about Android and every operating system & browser.
>
> Easy does it! You obviously did not read or did not comprehend my
>post.
>
> I wrote what I wrote, because I *did* read the article and Joerg
>clearly did *not*.

<g>

Nobody <jock@soccer.com> wrote:
>> I wrote what I wrote, because I *did* read the article and Joerg
>>clearly did *not*.
>
> <g>

Jeorg/Jorg Lorenz is a moron. He only posts the first (& only) thought that
comes to him the moment he sees anything on Usenet deemed juicy - where his
resulting output is no better than the final results of his last meal.