Promising Enough Sugar, Google Still Eventually Sells Personal Data Of Users

" Google promises its hundreds of millions of users that it will never sell any personal information to third parties, and that users will be determined how their information is used. That appointment is false "- the lawsuit stated, with a quote from Google's CEO Sundar Pichai in the New York Times in 2019." In fact, Google monitors every move in the digital world consumers, then make billions of dollars by selling their sensitive personal information. " The lawsuit continued to quote Google's terms of service as "We do not sell your personal information to anyone ".

According to a lawsuit filed in San Jose District Court by three Google users on Thursday, the act of intentionally selling data was " continuous and sneaky " through a " real-time bidding " system. to register the search giant's digital advertising position. If approved by the court, this action will be classified as class action.

If advertisers use the data to place their targeted ads right in front of the people who are most likely to notice it, other companies will also "drain" and store users' bidstream data. Google - the lawsuit affirms. " Many participants do not bid and only participate to conduct tracking and collecting more detailed data points about millions of Google consumers "

In a brief email released Thursday, Google countered that privacy and transparency are at the core of its advertising services. " We never sell people's personal information and have strict policies in place to prohibit personalized ads based on sensitive categories, " spokesman Jose Castaneda said.

The lawsuit alleging a Google abuse of user data violated California law and federal law.

The plaintiffs also provided two more letters of Google's data-related behavior, which were sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year and to Google CEO, Sunda Pichai, last month. , signed by the majority of Democrats - including MPs Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo and Ro Khanna - and Republican MP Bill Cassidy.

" Very few Americans realize that companies are draining and storing that bidstream data to create a complete profile of them, " both letters said. " These records include browsing data, location data, and other data about them, which will then be sold to venture funds, political campaigns, and even to government. no court order "

While Google says user information is "anonymous" and is only shared with a small number of partners, it allows ad auction participants to match data already from other sources with an identifier. provided by Google to identify individual users - including users who have taken measures to prevent tracking - the lawsuit asserted.

The lawsuit also pointed to Google's "history of privacy violations", which once put them on the radar of the government. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission declared the company " employ shady tactics and violate its own promises of privacy to consumers " by launching a social network that is now has been discontinued. Google then settled with the FTC. But two years later, after being accused by the FTC of violating an agreement with Apple's Safari browser users by not setting tracking cookies or displaying ads targeting them, Google accepted. receive compensation of up to 22.5 million USD.

In 2019, Google agreed to pay $ 170 million to settle the allegations of the FTC and the New York Attorney General that YouTube illegally collected personal information from children without their parents' consent. Last year, a French high court sanctioned Google € 50 million for using user data in targeted advertising without asking for permission.

The plaintiffs - California residents Meaghan Delahunty and John Kevranian, and Texas resident Meghan Cornelius - claim a large portion of Google's 2020 advertising revenue ($ 147 billion) comes from collecting and selling information. user. They accuse Google of violating illegal privacy, contract, and enrichment laws, and claiming damages for themselves and the millions of other Americans they want to call into lawsuits.