Even though Google loudly proclaimed its innocence, the company has just been fined $93 million. The reason ? It tracked its users without their explicit consent.
Google, which recently revisited the Chrome interface, has a very particular notion of respecting the confidentiality of its users. The company, already targeted by complaints from consumer associations in the EU last year, once again finds itself at the heart of legal turmoil. This time, it is the theme of the location of its users which is concerned, and the company had to free itself from a fine of 93 million dollars. After a recent complaint relating to its use of AI, we cannot really say that Google is currently sailing on a long, quiet river.
A broken promise
The legal procedure was formulated by Rob Bonta, Attorney General of the State of California. The latter highlighted a strong divergence between Google’s statements and the realities on the ground. Indeed, in the interest of respecting confidentiality, Google had claimed to give its users the possibility of deactivating the tracking of their travel history. This option allows you to protect yourself, on paper, from any “tracking” by the company.
In reality, Google continued to collect and store data through indirect means. Among these: monitoring applications, which users used as well as their web activity. According to the prosecutor’s allegations, these features were enabled by default.
Google’s sanction and commitment
Despite this, Google did not actually admit its guilt in this case, but agreed to pay a fine of $93 million. This fine is accompanied by corrective measures that the company will be required to put in place to regularize the situation. Among these: more transparency regarding location tracking practices and the obligation to notify a user before their location data is used for advertising targeting. Google spokesperson José Caste
not
ada, claimed that the outcome of this case was the consequence of outdated product policies. Policies that had been modified internally by Google for several years.
Transparency is a keystone on which user trust in tech companies rests. Google is not really a good student in this area. Far from being at its first outburst, the company has once again received a slap on the wrist from the American justice system. A warning that many observers will certainly consider insufficient given the amount of the fine.
Source : The Guardian
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