STUNNING SETTLEMENT
Connecticut part of historic $391.5 million settlement with Google over privacy practices, including location tracking
HARTFORD — Every day, on a 24-hour basis, Americans are tracked through their cell phones that can show precisely where they are standing or driving at any particular moment.
That could change for some consumers who “opt out’’ of tracking after an announcement Monday that Connecticut, in partnership with 39 other states, had reached a $391.5 million settlement with Google over location tracking practices related to Google accounts. The agreement, the largest multistate privacy settlement in American history, will award $6.5 million to Connecticut, said state Attorney General William Tong.
“This $391.5 million settlement is a historic win for consumers in an era of increasing reliance on technology,’’ Tong said. “Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt-out of tracking. Our investigation found that Google continued to collect this personal information even after consumers told them not to. That is an unacceptable invasion of consumer privacy, and a violation of state law.’’
Tong added, “People deserve to have greater control over — and understanding of — how their data is being used.’’
Many consumers who thought they had turned off the tracking technology learned later that they were actually being tracked by a different method that had not been turned off.
“That’s the problem. We thought we had hit all the right buttons,’’ Tong said during a news conference in Hartford. “Like most people, I don’t have time to go through all of the settings on my phone. We should at least have the choice and the tools to make the decisions . ... Be very careful. You’re being tracked. It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in a
surveillance economy. We do. Understand that you’re being tracked every minute of every day where you are. Take a few moments, maybe over the Thanksgiving holiday. Take your phone out. Take your laptop out. Do a little personal inventory of all the settings that you have and do your best to turn them off if you don’t want them.’’
Many drivers, however, want the phone apps of Google Maps and Waze to help them avoid traffic jams on interstate highways and local roads.
“It will be customized,’’ Tong said. “I may make a decision that I don’t want to be tracked all the time, but I’m willing to give up some tracking so that I’m part of a larger system, like Waze, when I’m on the road because I can’t get around the state without it.’’
The technology is so precise, Tong said, that it could
“I’m guessing that if I used Google apps, which I do, that Google knows where I am. Not just my ZIP code . ... But it is likely they know exactly where I am standing. It’s not just Google. It is Apple, and likely many other apps that we engage with every single day. This happens all day, every day, to all of us.’’
— Connecticut Attorney General William Tong
pinpoint that an individual had been at a Planned Parenthood clinic or any health care provider.
“I’m not aware of that happening in Connecticut, but it certainly could happen,’’ Tong said.
Under the settlement, Google will be required to explain the way it collects data and tell customers how to block the tracking of their location.
Consumer protection commissioner Michelle H. Seagull, who appeared at a press conference with Tong, said consumers should know the details of how data about them is being used.
“Companies like Google have a duty to be transparent in their data collection and advertising practices, and clearly give consumers the option to opt out of data sharing, including location tracking,’’ she said.
Location data, which Tong notes is among the most sensitive data that Google collects, is used by the company to build user profiles and target specific advertisements to consumers.
The settlement forces Google to become more transparent about its location tracking practices and limits the company’s use and storage of certain types of location information, Tong said.
Holding up two phones at the State Office Building at 165 Capitol Ave., Tong said, “I’m guessing that if I used Google apps, which I do, that Google knows where I am. Not just my ZIP code. ... But it is likely they know exactly where I am standing. It’s not just Google. It is Apple, and likely many other apps that we engage with every single day. This happens all day, every day, to all of us.’’
Using Bluetooth wireless technology, Wifi, and GPS signals, Google can narrow exactly where a person is located.
“In a Big Box store, you can look at vacuum cleaners at Costco — I say that because I recently bought a vacuum cleaner at Costco — then somehow you get a vacuum cleaner ad on your phone — either then or shortly thereafter,’’ Tong said. “There are so many reasons why consumers would want to opt out of that.’’
Google can track a person in various ways.
“Even though I turned location history off, Google was still collecting information about my precise location,’’ Tong told reporters. “They were doing that through another setting under their web and app activity. I thought I turned them off. I thought they were off. Any normal consumer would think that. But under web and app activity, those settings were on.’’
The attorneys general nationwide launched a four-year investigation after Associated Press published an article in 2018 about the tracking practices.