Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum what she called the largest AG-led internet privacy settlement in U.S. history. It stems from a case led by the attorneys general of Oregon and Nebraska. They got . The issue at the heart of the settlement is location data.
The states alleged that Google misled its users. Those users turned location tracking off, but the company was still collecting that data. Kristen Hilton, senior assistant Oregon attorney general, led the litigation team. She the investigation began with an 2018 about Google telling people they could turn off their tracking app and it would stop collecting that information.
鈥淎nd that wasn鈥檛 a true statement. It turned out that there was another setting that was essentially collecting the same type of location data from people. And this other setting which was called 鈥榳eb and app activity鈥� was automatically turned on for everyone that had a Google account, which was particularly impactful for Android users because you need to have a Google account in order to use the Android phone.鈥�
But she said everyone with Gmail installed on any mobile device had their detailed location data collected for several years.
Hilton said one of the biggest challenges in pursuing privacy protection for Google users was that laws governing companies鈥� behavior are grievously outdated.
鈥淭hey were around before Google was even a company, before we were all walking around with mobile devices in our pockets. And so the current laws can be really limiting with what we鈥檙e able to say are violations,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o we really need stronger consumer privacy laws in this country.鈥�
Google did not admit any wrong doing in the settlement, but in addition to the $391.5 million that it will be required to pay, the settlement also requires changes from the company.
鈥淥ne of the major changes is that they are making their control settings more user friendly,鈥� said Hilton. 鈥淪o if a user wants to turn off some of these settings that collect location data, they鈥檙e able to turn those settings off and also delete the data that had been collected up to that point at the same time.鈥�
In addition, Google is required to have a location technologies page that makes it clear exactly what information is being collected and what it does with that data.
鈥淎nd one of the biggest changes is that anyone who gets an Android phone and has to sign up for a new Google account going forward is going to see detailed information about that, which was a previously hidden setting, that was also collecting location information,鈥� said Hilton.
Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum and Nebraska鈥檚 AG Doug Peterson co-led the investigation, which 38 other states signed onto. Oregon鈥檚 share of the settlement is $14 million.
Hilton says the Attorney General鈥檚 office will be submitting privacy legislation to further protect Oregonians in the 2023 legislative session, which starts in mid-January.
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