New case to go to court for Google: Arizona filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the online search giant, accused of having collected personal data that its users wanted not to provide.
“Google gives the impression to its users that they can deactivate tracking. But the company goes by other ways to invade privacy”. Said Mark Brnovich, the attorney general of Arizona, in a press release.
“It’s almost impossible to prevent Google from tracking your movements, even if you are not aware of it or you have not given your consent. It’s against Arizona law, and even companies the most innovative must comply with the law, “he continues.
But the prosecutor and the lawyers “described inaccurately our services”, reacted Jose Castaneda, a spokesman for Google.
Google once again accused of tracking the location of Android users
Gizchina News of the week
“We have always incorporated privacy systems into our products and provided strong protections for location data. We are looking forward to getting the truth out,” he added.
The Californian group, which accounts for the largest share of global digital advertising revenue, provides “free” services. We are talking about search, Chrome browser, YouTube platform, Android operating system on smartphones and even Google Maps application.
User interactions with its products allow it to collect data on their profiles. In addition, they sell ultra-targeted advertising space, on a very large scale.
But Arizona, like other public authorities or civil organizations in the past, accuses it of applying this economic model at all costs. This, even if users have disabled geolocation on their smartphones.
The American state decided to investigate after the publication of an associated press report in 2018. it showed that “even if the history of the places visited is stopped, Google surreptitiously collects information on the location of the people through other functions. They use services like web activity and apps, and use it to sell ads”.
The survey “found that Google uses deceptive and unfair practices to collect as much information as possible. In addition, it makes it extremely difficult for users to understand what they do with their data”.
Several surveys are underway at federal and state level on practices and data management of large digital platforms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon or Apple. However, we will see how this will end in the upcoming weeks.
How do you see Google’s behavior, and are you afraid of your privacy in light of these practices? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
