Arizona accuses Google of hidden privacy options and data collection despite shutdown. According to Google, the allegations are outdated, now the agreement is reached.
Google will pay the state of Arizona $85 million to end a privacy lawsuit. Arizona has accused Google of hiding Android’s privacy settings, collecting location data, and using it for advertising, even though users have turned it off. Google points out that this lawsuit is based on older policies that were changed years ago.
Arizona sued Google in May 2020, according to another lawsuit against Google for misleading privacy settings. According to this, Google should constantly try to determine the whereabouts of users, even if they have expressly deactivated location tracking. Court documents later revealed that Google is said to have intentionally hidden privacy settings.
Google has cited Arizona’s consumer protection laws in its defense. These require that a suspected fraud must be directly related to a sale or advertisement. In January of this year, an Arizona state judge denied Google’s motion to dismiss the case.
Record comparison despite outdated settings
Despite the different positions, the US state and the Alphabet subsidiary have now agreed on the million-euro payment to end the process. Arizona’s Attorney General stated noisy Bloombergthat this is the highest amount per capita that Google has ever paid in a data protection and consumer protection court case.
However, a Google spokesman said Arizona’s lawsuit is based on older Android policies that were changed years ago. The mobile operating system offers simple controls and automatic deletion options for location data. We are also constantly working on minimizing the data collected. However, Google is pleased that this process has been completed.
Google’s millions for education and broadband
Of the Comparison from the procedure (Arizona v. Google, Arizona Sup. Ct., Az. 2020-006219) provides that Google pays $77.25 million to the US state and $7.75 million to the prosecutor. The Attorney General will direct $5 million of that to educational institutions such as a law school. The Arizona Legislature is to use Google’s $77.25 million for education, broadband expansion and internet privacy efforts.
Arizona’s settlement with Google could be groundbreaking for similar lawsuits. Google is also facing complaints about user location data from the Attorney Generals’ Offices in the US states of Texas, Indiana and Washington DC.
