All eyes are on Google
Probe into tech giant widens
AS THE Australian probe into Google’s cyberstalking widens, US lawmakers have demanded an investigation into “potential deceptive acts” by the tech titan while collecting users’ “sensitive location data” such as visits to IVF or abortion clinics.
Democrat senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward Markey said they had written to Federal Trade Commission chairman Joseph Simons over their concerns Google’s “opaque” privacy settings had allowed it to “develop an intimate understanding of personal lives” as they watch their users seek the support of reproductive health services, engage in civic activities, or attend places of religious worship.
“All that it takes for users to expose themselves to this ... is to once allow an ambiguously described feature, for example when trying to display photos on a map on the Google Photo service.”
The letter focuses on Google’s “Store Visits” service for marketers, which News Corp Australia revealed was criticised in a presentation US data experts recently made to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC is investigating the relative power Google, Facebook and advertisers have in dealing with consumers.
The Democrats, in explaining their concerns, quote Google’s claim that it now “uses location information in ... ads products to infer demographic information”.
The senators then say they “are particularly concerned about the use of location data for demographic inferences”.
Their letter concludes by asking the FTC to “open an investigation into the potential deceptive acts and practices used by Google to track and commoditise American consumers”.
Store Visits runs on “Location History”, which is an optin function for users.
By contrast, Google autoenrols people in “Location Services”. Both appear to track where a person is, if they are walking, in a car or riding a bike, as well as whether they are on the ground or in a building.
Unlike Location History, Google says Location Services is not shared with marketers.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is “making inquiries with Google” possibly about both, as is the ACCC.
The OAIC has also seen the presentation by the visiting experts from Oracle, who claimed Google was using about one gigabyte a month of each phone owner’s data allowance as part of the Location Services monitoring.
The value of that data – across the more than 10 million Australian phones running on Google’s Android operating system – could be as high as $580 million a year.
Google has questioned the 1GB estimate but admitted it is chewing into the data allowance phone owners have bought from their carrier.
“Data sent and received from Android devices may be transmitted over a Wi-Fi network or over the device’s cellular connection,” a Google spokesman said.
“In the case of mobile devices, any charges for transmission of data over a cellular connection – including any location-related data – would be governed by a user’s mobile carrier plan.
“The types and quantity of such data that a user’s device transmits would depend on the products or services they use, and, in some cases, settings.”