On the wrong track: Google violates US location tracking laws, pays…

New Delhi: The world’s leading tech company Google has suffered a major setback in the location tracking case in America. It has entered into an agreement with 40 US states to settle the case. Under this, Google will pay damages of $ 400 million (more than Rs 32 billion) to 40 states including Michigan.

The investigation found Google guilty of misleading consumers by violating US location tracking rules. Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said on Monday that 40 US states have settled with the tech company for nearly USD 391 million for misleading consumers.

This is the largest multistate privacy settlement with attorney general in US history.

What was the violation?

Due to online access, Google tracks the location of its users without their permission or without informing them and uses it for profits. Due to this agreement, the tech giant will now have to bring transparency. It will have to make the users aware about the location data and tell them that their location data is being tracked. If customers or users do not allow location tracking, then Google will not be able to do this.

“For years Google has prioritized profit over their users’ privacy,” said Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum in a news release. “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.”

According to Nessel, Google gets most of its revenue or revenue from the use of personal data of people using its browser or apps. Due to the violation of privacy laws, Google has entered into this agreement with the Attorney Generals of 40 states including Michigan. According to the Attorney General’s Office of Michigan, Google uses users or consumers for personal interest by tracking their location without giving information or without their permission.

In the last few years, Google, Amazon and other American tech giants have faced strict regulations in many countries globally. They have been fined heavily for violating privacy or confidentiality rules.

What is the settlement?

As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to improve its location tracking disclosures and user controls starting next year.

The settlement requires Google to disclose all the additional information whenever they turn on a location related feature. Along with this, the app will not be able to hide location tracking from users.

In a blog post, the mountain view, Google outlined it will “provide a new control that allows users to easily turn off their Location History and Web & App Activity settings and delete their past data in one simple flow.”

The company also plans to add additional disclosures to its Activity controls and Data & Privacy pages. Alongside these changes, Google is going to create a comprehensive information hub that highlights key location settings.

In addition, Google plans to give users who are setting up new accounts a more detailed explanation of what Web & App Activity is and what information it includes. The company said it will continue deleting location history data for users who have not recently contributed new location history data to their account.

Location data – an integral part of Google Ad business

Google’s Personalized advertising is one its key feature. In the year 2021, personalised advertising generated more than $209 billion in ad revenue for Aphabet, Inc. which is Google’s parent company.

Digital advertising feature of the tech giant depends heavily on location data to gather personal and behavioral data. Its clients use this data to create detailed consumer profiles. It is actually this feature of google which enables marketers to target their campaigns to a specific demographic.

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