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The lawsuit claimed that even when users thought they had turned
off location tracking in their settings, Google continued to
collect information on their whereabouts.
Google settled a similar lawsuit with Arizona for $85 million
last month, and the company faces additional tracking lawsuits
in other states, including Indiana.
Adam Schwartz, an attorney with the Chicago-based Electronic
Frontier Foundation, said the practice goes on more than people
think.
“Many, many companies are collecting people’s location data,”
said Schwartz. “For example, every time we download an app,
often the app contains a line of code which tracks locations
even when you are not using the app and transmits that data to a
broker who is paying the app developer for the data.”
The Associated Press reported in 2018 that the privacy issue
with location tracking affected some two billion users of
devices that run Google’s Android operating software and
hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on
Google for maps or searches.
“For years, Google has prioritized profit over their users'
privacy,” Oregon State’s Attorney Ellen Rosenblum said in a
statement. “They have been crafty and deceptive. Consumers
thought they had turned off their location tracking features on
Google, but the company continued to secretly record their
movements and use that information for advertisers.”
Google also settled a $100 million class-action lawsuit with
Illinois after violating the state’s Biometric Privacy Law for
failing to obtain consent from anyone who used its facial
recognition technology through Google Photos.
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in
Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of
experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.
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