Google faces €1bn case for tracking users without consent

GOOGLE is facing a €1bn lawsuit and a possible regulatory probe after multiple accusations of tracking people’s locations on smartphones without their permission.

The tech giant, which employs 7,000 people in Dublin, has admitted collecting location information on Android phones, unbeknownst to their owners.

The company says that it did this by measuring the nearest cellular mast or tower, even if the person had switched their Android phone’s location tracking facility off.

Irish data protection experts say that the company’s actions leave it open to censure under data privacy rules.

“It comes down to the purpose for which Google had that data,” said Daragh O’Brien, chief executive of privacy specialist firm Castlebridge Associates.

“Cell ID is a reasonably accurate proxy for someone’s location, especially in urban areas. It doesn’t really matter what they used the data for. They should have respected the location preferences of the users.”

A spokesman for the Irish Data Protection Commissioner did not respond at the time of going to press.

A spokesman for Google Ireland declined to comment on the matter. However, a spokesman for Google in the US told the online publisher ‘Quartz’ that it had been collecting the data since the beginning of the year.

“In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery,” he said. “However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.”

In a separate case, the tech giant is being sued for €1.14bn in a UK class action case for getting around privacy settings on iPhones to track users’ behaviour across the web.

The activity relates to a ‘workaround’ on iPhone browser Safari that Google allegedly perpetrated in 2011 and 2012. Prominent British legal firm Mishcon de Reya is taking the case on behalf of a group called ‘Google You Owe US’.

Mischon lawyer James Oldnall said: “Whilst the total sums made by Google from misusing this data are likely to be large, the damages suffered by each individual are relatively small.

“A representative action such as this can be brought on behalf of all consumers and removes the need for individuals to bring an action, which they are unlikely to do.”

He said data had become an “important new currency” and was valuable to large corporations, therefore consumers needed methods which could effectively police the rights given to them.

“In all my years speaking up for consumers, I’ve rarely seen such a massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own.”

He added: “Through this action, we will send a strong message to Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley that we’re not afraid to fight back.”

However, a spokesman for Google Ireland said that it would fight the case.

“This is not new,” he said. “We have defended similar cases before. We don’t believe it has any merit and we will contest it.”