Google Customer Location Data Class Action & Yet More Facebook / Meta Fines & Settlements
Google Paying $29.5 Million To Settle Lawsuits Over User Location Tracking
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita hailed what he described as a blow against "Big Tech's intrusive schemes."
By Mary Papenfuss
Dec 31, 2022, 06:40 PM EST
Google has agreed to pay a total of $29.5 million to settle two lawsuits over the company’s tracking of customer locations.
Google used location data from Indiana consumers to build detailed user profiles and target ads - but misled users about those practices since at least 2014, said Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R), whose state filed a suit against the company along with Washington, D.C.
Google is paying Indiana $20 million to resolve the state’s lawsuit over the company’s “deceptive location-tracking practices,” Rokita said in a statement released Thursday.
“This settlement is another manifestation of our steadfast commitment to protect Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive schemes,” Rokita added. “We will continue holding these companies accountable for their improper manipulation of consumers.”
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) tweeted on Friday that his office had also reached a settlement with Google over the issue for $9.5 million. He said Google tricked customers to gain access to their location data. Google made it “nearly impossible” for users to prevent their location from being tracked, he argued.
Racine said that as part of the settlement, Google will be required to make clear to its customers how their location data is collected, stored and used.
Several states launched lawsuits against Google following a disturbing Associated Press story in 2018 revealing the extent of Google’s customer location tracking.
The company agreed in November to pay a record $391 million to settle an investigation into its tracking practices launched by a coalition of 40 states. Officials had complained that Google was even tracking customers who had opted out of being tracked.
It was the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in U.S. history.
Google did not immediately respond about the latest settlement. But the company said in November that its controversial location-tracking practices had already been dropped years before the previous settlement.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/goggle-settle-location-tracking-lawsuits_n_63b0b07fe4b0fe267ca98cfc
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Google to Pay $391 Million Over ‘Crafty’ Location Tracking
Nov. 15, 2022, 6:43 AM
Michigan AG calls it largest multi-state AG privacy pact in US
Google says policies in question are a thing of the past
Google agreed to pay a total of $391.5 million to 40 US states to resolve a probe into controversial location-tracking practices that the Alphabet Inc. unit says it already discarded several years ago, in what state officials are calling the largest such privacy settlement in US history.
Google will “significantly improve” its location-tracking disclosures and user controls starting next year as part of the deal, according to a statement issued Monday by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who led the negotiations with her Nebraska counterpart, Doug Peterson.
In an interview, Rosenblum called Google’s practices “crafty and deceptive” because the company had secretly recorded users’ movements and provided the data to advertisers for years, even after consumers believed they had turned off the location-tracking feature.
“They can’t deny what they did, which was incredibly misleading,” Rosenblum said, adding: “We’re never going to trust Google, but we can put controls on them that will make it a lot harder for them to track people” going forward.
Abortion and Privacy
Location history has become a particularly sensitive topic following the US Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion, amid fears that prosecutors could use such data to track women’s movements to enforce state bans. Google has already said it would automatically delete records of user visits to sensitive locations, including abortion clinics, responding to the concerns.
The multi-state probe was triggered by a 2018 Associated Press article reporting that Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to,” according to a separate statement by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The states cited issues with two Google account settings: Location History and Web & App Activity.
Google said the policies in question are long gone.
“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this investigation which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement.
Privacy and Ad Sales
Google can track users’ locations with sensors on their devices that connect with GPS, cell towers and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement, adding that it can use those signals to track someone’s location “both outside and inside buildings,” he said.
“Digital platforms like Google cannot claim to provide privacy controls to users, then turn around and disregard those controls to collect and sell data to advertisers,” Platkin said.
Arizona in 2020 sued Google over the practice and earlier this year secured an $85 million settlement. That complaint accused Google of violating the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by gathering location data even after users opted out of a feature.
Nessel said transparency requirements of the 40-state accord “will ensure that Google not only makes users aware of how their location data is being used, but also how to change their account settings if they wish to disable location-related account settings, delete the data collected and set data retention limits.”
Separately, Meta Platforms Inc. will pay $90 million to settle a suit over the use of browser cookies and Facebook’s “Like” button to track user activity. The settlement got final approval from a federal court in California on Nov. 10.
--With assistance from Julia Love.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net
Peter Jeffrey, Peter Blumberg
© 2022 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/google-to-pay-states-391-5-million-over-location-tracking-1
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Google to pay record $391m privacy settlement
Published
15 November 2022
Google will pay $391.5m (£330m) to settle allegations about how it collects data from users. The technology giant tracked the location of users who opted out of location services on their devices, 40 US states said.
Google has been told to be transparent about location tracking in the future and develop a web page telling people about the data it collects. It is the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in US history.
A Google official said: "Consistent with improvements we've made in recent years, we have settled this investigation, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago."
Last month, Google agreed to pay Arizona $85m over similar issues concerning how it collects location data.
There remains one outstanding case on the topic in the US courts, after Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia took legal action against Google in January.
'Misleading consumers'
Knowing a user's location helps advertisers target products.
And location services help Google generate $200bn in annual advertising revenue.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who led the case - alongside Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson - said: "For years Google has prioritised profit over its users' privacy.
"It has 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."
The attorneys general said Google had been misleading consumers about location tracking since at least 2014, breaking state consumer-protection laws.
The company has been told to significantly improve user controls and the way it discloses location tracking, starting from 2023.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63635380
-------------------------------------------------
Facebook’s $90 Million ‘Like’ Button Tracking Suit Pact Approved
Nov. 15, 2022, 1:16 AM
1.5 million class members each to receive $39 in relief
2011 lawsuit challenged Facebook’s tracking with “Like” button
Facebook will pay $90 million to settle a long-running lawsuit over the use of browser cookies and the Facebook “Like” button to track user activity on the internet.
Judge Edward J. Davila of the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval to the settlement Nov. 10, after giving the deal preliminary approval in March.
Perrin Davis, Brian Lentz and the other plaintiffs claimed in the 2011-filed lawsuit that Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms Inc., tracked users’ internet activity on pages that displayed a “Like” button using “cookies,” or small text files the server creates and stores on the user’s computer.
Facebook’s user tracking violated the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and several California consumer protection statutes, the lawsuit alleged. The case consolidated similar complaints filed on behalf of U.S. residents in 10 states, including Alabama, California and Texas.
Davila granted Facebook’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in a 2017 ruling, but the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the dismissal in part and remanded the case to the district court in 2020. The parties provided the court with a notice of settlement shortly after the US Supreme Court turned down Facebook’s petition for a writ of certiorari.
The class includes all Facebook users who visited non-Facebook websites between April 22, 2010 and September 26, 2011 that displayed the Facebook “Like” button, a feature that allegedly allowed Facebook to track their visits. Class members provided over 1.5 million valid claims for relief.
The settlement provides for just over $61 million to be distributed among class members, after deductions for attorneys’ fees and costs, or $39.21 per member, the order said. Class counsel are seeking $26.1 million in fees.
DiCello Levitt LLC, Grygiel Law LLC, and Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC represented the class. Cooley LLP, Bergeson LLP, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP represented Facebook.
The case is In Re Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 5:12-md-02314, 11/10/22.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Brown in St. Louis at ChrisBrown@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rob Tricchinelli at rtricchinelli@bloomberglaw.com; Andrew Harris at aharris@bloomberglaw.com
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-to-pay-90-million-to-settle-user-tracking-class-action
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-to-pay-90-million-to-settle-user-tracking-class-action
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita hailed what he described as a blow against "Big Tech's intrusive schemes."
By Mary Papenfuss
Dec 31, 2022, 06:40 PM EST
Google has agreed to pay a total of $29.5 million to settle two lawsuits over the company’s tracking of customer locations.
Google used location data from Indiana consumers to build detailed user profiles and target ads - but misled users about those practices since at least 2014, said Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R), whose state filed a suit against the company along with Washington, D.C.
Google is paying Indiana $20 million to resolve the state’s lawsuit over the company’s “deceptive location-tracking practices,” Rokita said in a statement released Thursday.
“This settlement is another manifestation of our steadfast commitment to protect Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive schemes,” Rokita added. “We will continue holding these companies accountable for their improper manipulation of consumers.”
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) tweeted on Friday that his office had also reached a settlement with Google over the issue for $9.5 million. He said Google tricked customers to gain access to their location data. Google made it “nearly impossible” for users to prevent their location from being tracked, he argued.
Racine said that as part of the settlement, Google will be required to make clear to its customers how their location data is collected, stored and used.
Several states launched lawsuits against Google following a disturbing Associated Press story in 2018 revealing the extent of Google’s customer location tracking.
The company agreed in November to pay a record $391 million to settle an investigation into its tracking practices launched by a coalition of 40 states. Officials had complained that Google was even tracking customers who had opted out of being tracked.
It was the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in U.S. history.
Google did not immediately respond about the latest settlement. But the company said in November that its controversial location-tracking practices had already been dropped years before the previous settlement.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/goggle-settle-location-tracking-lawsuits_n_63b0b07fe4b0fe267ca98cfc
------------------------------------------------
Google to Pay $391 Million Over ‘Crafty’ Location Tracking
Nov. 15, 2022, 6:43 AM
Michigan AG calls it largest multi-state AG privacy pact in US
Google says policies in question are a thing of the past
Google agreed to pay a total of $391.5 million to 40 US states to resolve a probe into controversial location-tracking practices that the Alphabet Inc. unit says it already discarded several years ago, in what state officials are calling the largest such privacy settlement in US history.
Google will “significantly improve” its location-tracking disclosures and user controls starting next year as part of the deal, according to a statement issued Monday by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who led the negotiations with her Nebraska counterpart, Doug Peterson.
In an interview, Rosenblum called Google’s practices “crafty and deceptive” because the company had secretly recorded users’ movements and provided the data to advertisers for years, even after consumers believed they had turned off the location-tracking feature.
“They can’t deny what they did, which was incredibly misleading,” Rosenblum said, adding: “We’re never going to trust Google, but we can put controls on them that will make it a lot harder for them to track people” going forward.
Abortion and Privacy
Location history has become a particularly sensitive topic following the US Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion, amid fears that prosecutors could use such data to track women’s movements to enforce state bans. Google has already said it would automatically delete records of user visits to sensitive locations, including abortion clinics, responding to the concerns.
The multi-state probe was triggered by a 2018 Associated Press article reporting that Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to,” according to a separate statement by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The states cited issues with two Google account settings: Location History and Web & App Activity.
Google said the policies in question are long gone.
“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this investigation which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement.
Privacy and Ad Sales
Google can track users’ locations with sensors on their devices that connect with GPS, cell towers and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement, adding that it can use those signals to track someone’s location “both outside and inside buildings,” he said.
“Digital platforms like Google cannot claim to provide privacy controls to users, then turn around and disregard those controls to collect and sell data to advertisers,” Platkin said.
Arizona in 2020 sued Google over the practice and earlier this year secured an $85 million settlement. That complaint accused Google of violating the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by gathering location data even after users opted out of a feature.
Nessel said transparency requirements of the 40-state accord “will ensure that Google not only makes users aware of how their location data is being used, but also how to change their account settings if they wish to disable location-related account settings, delete the data collected and set data retention limits.”
Separately, Meta Platforms Inc. will pay $90 million to settle a suit over the use of browser cookies and Facebook’s “Like” button to track user activity. The settlement got final approval from a federal court in California on Nov. 10.
--With assistance from Julia Love.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net
Peter Jeffrey, Peter Blumberg
© 2022 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/google-to-pay-states-391-5-million-over-location-tracking-1
-------------------------------------------------
Google to pay record $391m privacy settlement
Published
15 November 2022
Google will pay $391.5m (£330m) to settle allegations about how it collects data from users. The technology giant tracked the location of users who opted out of location services on their devices, 40 US states said.
Google has been told to be transparent about location tracking in the future and develop a web page telling people about the data it collects. It is the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in US history.
A Google official said: "Consistent with improvements we've made in recent years, we have settled this investigation, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago."
Last month, Google agreed to pay Arizona $85m over similar issues concerning how it collects location data.
There remains one outstanding case on the topic in the US courts, after Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia took legal action against Google in January.
'Misleading consumers'
Knowing a user's location helps advertisers target products.
And location services help Google generate $200bn in annual advertising revenue.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who led the case - alongside Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson - said: "For years Google has prioritised profit over its users' privacy.
"It has 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."
The attorneys general said Google had been misleading consumers about location tracking since at least 2014, breaking state consumer-protection laws.
The company has been told to significantly improve user controls and the way it discloses location tracking, starting from 2023.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63635380
-------------------------------------------------
Facebook’s $90 Million ‘Like’ Button Tracking Suit Pact Approved
Nov. 15, 2022, 1:16 AM
1.5 million class members each to receive $39 in relief
2011 lawsuit challenged Facebook’s tracking with “Like” button
Facebook will pay $90 million to settle a long-running lawsuit over the use of browser cookies and the Facebook “Like” button to track user activity on the internet.
Judge Edward J. Davila of the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval to the settlement Nov. 10, after giving the deal preliminary approval in March.
Perrin Davis, Brian Lentz and the other plaintiffs claimed in the 2011-filed lawsuit that Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms Inc., tracked users’ internet activity on pages that displayed a “Like” button using “cookies,” or small text files the server creates and stores on the user’s computer.
Facebook’s user tracking violated the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and several California consumer protection statutes, the lawsuit alleged. The case consolidated similar complaints filed on behalf of U.S. residents in 10 states, including Alabama, California and Texas.
Davila granted Facebook’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in a 2017 ruling, but the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the dismissal in part and remanded the case to the district court in 2020. The parties provided the court with a notice of settlement shortly after the US Supreme Court turned down Facebook’s petition for a writ of certiorari.
The class includes all Facebook users who visited non-Facebook websites between April 22, 2010 and September 26, 2011 that displayed the Facebook “Like” button, a feature that allegedly allowed Facebook to track their visits. Class members provided over 1.5 million valid claims for relief.
The settlement provides for just over $61 million to be distributed among class members, after deductions for attorneys’ fees and costs, or $39.21 per member, the order said. Class counsel are seeking $26.1 million in fees.
DiCello Levitt LLC, Grygiel Law LLC, and Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC represented the class. Cooley LLP, Bergeson LLP, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP represented Facebook.
The case is In Re Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 5:12-md-02314, 11/10/22.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Brown in St. Louis at ChrisBrown@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rob Tricchinelli at rtricchinelli@bloomberglaw.com; Andrew Harris at aharris@bloomberglaw.com
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-to-pay-90-million-to-settle-user-tracking-class-action
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-to-pay-90-million-to-settle-user-tracking-class-action