Google under probe over Android data collection

Google is under investigation in Australia following claims that it collects data from millions of Android smartphones users, who unwittingly pay their service providers for gigabytes consumed during the harvesting, regulators said.

Responding to the latest privacy concerns surrounding Google, a spokesman for the USbased search engine operator said the company has users’ permission to collect data.

The Australian investigations stem from allegations made by Oracle Corp in a report provided as part of an Australian review into the impact that Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, and Facebook have on the advertising market.

Both the Australian Competition as ell as the Consumer Commission ( ACCC) and the country’s Privacy Commissioner said they were reviewing the report’s findings.

“The ACCC met with Oracle and is considering information it has provided about Google services,” said Geesche Jacobsen, a spokeswoman for the competition regulator. “We are exploring how much consumers know about the use of location data and are working closely with the Privacy Commissioner.”

Oracle, according to The Australian newspaper, said Alphabet receives detailed information about billions of people’s Internet searches and user locations if they have a phone that carries Android — the mobile operating system developed by Google.

Transferring that information to Google means using up several of gigabytes of data that consumers have paid for under data packages purchased from local telco service providers, according to the Oracle report. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the content of the Oracle report.