Google has settled a privateness lawsuit with a coalition of 40 state attorneys normal at present. Google agreed to pay $391.5 million for deceptive Location Historical past settings the corporate was operating from 2014-2020.

Google’s Location Historical past settings have gotten it in hassle with a number of regulatory our bodies. The motion started after a 2018 Related Press article identified that the “Location Historical past” test field did not management all Google location historical past throughout your total account and that many location monitoring options lived below a second test field known as “Internet & App Exercise.” Shoppers would possibly flip off the “Location Historical past” test field considering it stopped all Google location monitoring, however it was really just for a single Google Maps function. Google misplaced a case in Australia over this setting in 2021 and just lately settled a separate lawsuit with Arizona for $85 million. Just a few different states nonetheless have pending lawsuits.

Google redesigned its privateness settings a number of instances because the AP article, and in a weblog put up on the settlement, Google stated the ruling was “based mostly on outdated product insurance policies that we modified years in the past.”  As a part of the settlement, Google guarantees to make extra privateness settings modifications in “the approaching months,” saying the modifications embody:

• Revamping person data hubs: To assist clarify how location knowledge improves our companies, we’re including extra disclosures to our Exercise controls and Knowledge & Privateness pages. We’re additionally making a single, complete data hub that highlights key location settings to assist individuals make knowledgeable decisions about their knowledge.
• Simplified deletion of location knowledge: We’ll present a brand new management that enables customers to simply flip off their Location Historical past and Internet & App Exercise settings and delete their previous knowledge in a single easy movement. We’ll additionally proceed deleting Location Historical past knowledge for customers who haven’t just lately contributed new Location Historical past knowledge to their account.
• Up to date account set-up: We’ll give customers organising new accounts a extra detailed clarification of what Internet & App Exercise is, what data it consists of, and the way it helps their Google expertise.

Ellen Rosenblum, the Oregon lawyer normal, recapped the lawsuit, saying, “For years, Google prioritized revenue over the privateness of people that use Google services. Shoppers thought that they had turned ‘off’ their location monitoring options on Google, however the firm continued to secretly report their actions and use that data for advertisers.”

Google’s enterprise mannequin is nearly fully made up of monitoring individuals and utilizing that knowledge to indicate them related adverts throughout the Web. The corporate’s final yearly report confirmed $282 billion in income, so for “years” of privateness violations, that $392 million settlement works out to about 12 hours of income.