Google ‘misled’ Aussies

IN A landmark Federal Court case, Google has admitted to not telling millions of Australians about privacy policy changes when it sought their permission to collect and combine more personal information to allegedly target ads with even greater precision.

However, the internet giant argues it “was not required to” tell account holders because the privacy update “was not inconsistent” with the data use consent it was seeking through a “new features” notification.

Google’s explanation is contained in its defence to legal action the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has brought alleging misleading or deceptive conduct.

The case is set against the backdrop of a broader stoush which includes the ACCC’S world-first bid to get major digital platforms, including

Google, to pay for news content used to help draw in their massive audiences.

This Federal Court action is one of two the ACCC has launched against Google in the past year, with the key accusations being “Google’s contravening conduct:

Deprived millions of account holders in Australia of the opportunity to make an informed choice about the collection and use to be made of their personal information;

Resulted in millions of account holders in Australia purportedly consenting to important changes to the way Google collected and used their personal information;

Resulted in millions of account holders in Australia providing additional, valuable personal information to Google about their internet activity, which Google in turn used to increase the value of its advertising products for commercial gain.

In its amended concise statement, the ACCC said a June 2016 privacy update by Google “reduced account holders’ rights” by allowing users’ data from third-party sites to be combined with their activities on Google services.

It accused Google of failing to tell 13.5 million users about the privacy update in a “new features” notification that was active for the next 2½ years.

Google has denied the ACCC’S accusations of misleading or deceptive conduct in its recently filed defence.

Google said it “designed and deployed a prominent and easy-to-understand opt-in consent mechanism” for the new features notification.

Google said it “admits the notification did not refer to the June 2016 privacy update” because it “was not required to”.

A case management hearing has been set for October 23 before Justice David Yates in Sydney.