Google Facing Mobile Phone Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

Tech giant Google is scheduled to be back in court Aug. 18, according to a Wednesday (Jan. 8) Reuters report.

A federal judge in California denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging Google violated the privacy of both Android and non-Android mobile phone services users.

Initially filed in 2020, the lawsuit accuses Google of continuing to collect location data from users even after they turned the location tracking setting off in their privacy settings. The plaintiffs claim it’s a violation of California’s privacy laws.

The Reuters report said that Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the federal court in San Francisco ruled that Google didn’t sufficiently disclose how its Web & App Activity settings worked and rejected Google’s argument that users consented to the tracking.

In his decision, the judge cited Google internal communications indicating that the company was deliberately vague about some of the details about its tracking practices. Reuters reported that some employees raised concerns in the communications about how the company distinguished between data collected inside and outside Google accounts. Some employees suggested that full transparency would alarm users, according to Reuters.

Seeborg also acknowledged that what the employees said may have simply been feedback aimed at improving Google’s services.

It’ll be up to a jury to decide whether the company’s actions were misleading or just part of standard product development.

Google said in a statement on Wednesday: “Privacy controls have long been built into our service and the allegations here are a deliberate attempt to mischaracterize the way our products work. We will continue to make our case in court against these patently false claims.”

If the suit continues to trial, Google’s data collection methods will go under the microscope, and if the plaintiffs are successful, Google may decide to alter its data handling policies.

This isn’t the first time Google has had to defend itself against accusations of invasion of privacy. Last August, a federal appeals court in San Francisco heard a lawsuit that accused the company of tracking users of its Chrome browser even after they chose not to synchronize their browser data with their Google accounts.