Alphabet’s Google will pay $391.5 million to settle allegations in 40 US states that the company illegally tracked users’ locations, the Michigan attorney general’s office said on Monday.
The investigation and settlement, led by Oregon and Nebraska, is a sign of growing legal headaches for the tech giant from state attorneys general who have aggressively attacked user tracking practices in recent months.
In addition to payment, Google should be more transparent with consumers about when location tracking is taking place and provide users with detailed information about geolocation data on a special web page, the Iowa attorney general’s office said.
“When consumers make the decision not to share location data on their devices, they should be able to trust that a company will no longer track their every move,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement. “This agreement makes clear that companies must be transparent in how they track customers and comply with state and federal privacy laws.”
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said: “Consistent with the improvements we’ve made in recent years, we’ve resolved this investigation based on outdated product policies we amended years ago.”
Google had $111 billion in advertising revenue in the first half of this year, more than any other online ad seller. A consumer’s geolocation is key to helping an advertiser with more relevant ads to attract the consumer’s attention.
Source: CNN Brasil
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