An umpteenth class action against Google
The Mountain View firm, like its GAFA peers (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) will never stop making a name for themselves when it comes to the issue of privacy breaches and internet tracking.
Earlier this week, in the U.S. state of California, a large collective was filed against the digital giant. This does not change other times, because this time the complainants accuse it of monitoring users of Google services, in all their online activity, and even when they are browsing privately.
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An accusation that does not change habit. Whether it's Facebook, or Google, the main problem they're accused of is exactly their huge curiosity, their mania for wanting to know at all costs what their users are doing when they're connected to the internet.
The indiscretion of Google services could be even deeper than we think, if we refer to the content of the complaint filed against the American company. It accuses Google of using its services illegally, in order to monitor their habits and all the actions they carry out on the internet. This is without the prior consent of the targeted individuals. Complaints that do not previous against the giant. Services indexed in the complaint include Google Ad manager, Google analytics, Google Sign In, as well as several plug-ins and other app extensions. These are services that are used by nearly 70% of website content publishers, and on the other hand the Android operating system (present on nearly 80% of smartphones) which works almost 80% with its services. In this context, Google would be able not only to know what the user is looking for, but also what they have already been looking for, and all this with exceptional accuracy coupled with the IP address. A fairly intrusive Google tracking that would be active even when the user is in private browsing mode.
Collective action highlights an essential point that for some time has become more than a rule: the requirement of informed and prior consent of the user. It is said that the Mountain View firm does not meet this requirement. And as we know, websites have no obligation to reveal the data that is collected by Google when browsing the user except their own. The plaintiffs then demand financial compensation from the American giant of up to $5,000 or a fine equivalent to 3 times that amount per person as damages. The motivation for a requirement would be Google's conviction for non-compliance with privacy.
All holders of Android rotating devices that once opened a web page through Google services are invited to join the collective action. The invitation is also to anyone:
– Having a Google account,
– Who lives in the United States
– Who would have used Google services several times, whether in normal navigation or private browsing.
It is therefore possible to make an assessment to the tune of several million people, the potential interested in this collective action.
If this time it was in California, it should be noted that last week, in Arizona, a similar complaint was still filed against Google. On this side, too, the American giant is accused of abusing its position and services, in order to track users, without first obtaining their consent. He adds that Google's operating system, android, was designed to monitor users of compatible smartphones, both in terms of their movement and geographic location. This is despite the user deactivate location services.
Complaints about the U.S. giant are not limited to the United States. In the United Kingdom and Australia, several other complaints were registered. It should not be forgotten that last year, precisely in September, the Mountain View firm was fined $170 million after being convicted of collecting personal data belonging to children as a result of their activity on YouTube.
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