The Click Times Google has agreed to pay Arizona $85 million in a settlement of a lawsuit that alleged the company had been collecting data from users’ phones and using it for targeted advertising.
The suit, filed by the attorney general for Arizona in 2014, alleged that Google had been collecting data from users’ phones and using it for targeted advertising without their knowledge or consent. The settlement was reached after years of litigation and includes $5 million in civil penalties to be paid to the state, as well as provisions that would end Google’s practice of collecting user location information outside of certain settings.
Google’s VP of Engineering, Mr. Castañeda, has said that the company has always built privacy features into their products and provided robust controls for location data.
Castañeda also said that Google is committed to building a better web where users are in control of their experience and data.
He said that the company’s commitment to user privacy is not new and is not something they are doing for the first time.
Google will pay $85 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that it violated the privacy of its users in Arizona.
The settlement was reached on Thursday, and includes Google agreeing to destroy the data collected through its Street View mapping project.
Google is paying $85 million in a privacy suit brought by Arizona over its alleged tracking of users through the internet giant’s location services.
In court papers filed on March 25, Google confirmed that it would be paying the money to resolve the case and that it had no further comment on the matter at this time.
The settlement will cover Arizona-based users of Google’s Google Maps service and other third-party vendors who used its location services to track users’ positions. Google’s privacy policy states that it does not bar companies from using its location services “to provide relevant ads or targeted marketing based on a user’s past activity, interests or locations.”
Settlement details were outlined in a proposed stipulation of fact filed in Maricopa County Superior Court last week. A final hearing is scheduled for April 24 before Judge Sarah Backus, who will decide whether to approve the terms of the settlement.
A group of about 40 residents and business owners in Phoenix sued Google for allegedly tracking their personal information through its Street View camera network and Location History feature between 2007 and 2012. The lawsuit claimed that by collecting geographical data from internet users, which websites they visited and how long they stayed there — as well as other data such as phone numbers and email addresses — Google violated their privacy rights under U.S., state and federal laws.
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