XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone, alt.comp.software.firefox
On 20/11/2023, Peter wrote:
"Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing -
that it would no longer track their location once they opted out - but
doing the opposite and continuing to track its users' movements
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Filed%20stamped%20Google%20Complaint.pdf
5. Google offers users three features, each with an "account level
setting," through which Google collects, stores, and/or uses
located-related data: Location History, Web & App Activity, and Ads Personalization. These three settings are "account level" because they can
be enabled or disabled on a user-by-user basis within the user's account settings. Generally speaking, they are not device specific. As a result,
for a particular Google account, Location History, Web & App Activity, and
Ads Personalization would either be on or off, regardless of how many
devices or apps were used to log into the account. Notably, these three settings differ from device-based settings, such as the toggle to turn on a phone's GPS or the app permissions that give particular apps access to that
GPS data if enabled.
6. As discussed further below, many users did not know of or understand Google's Location History and Web & App Activity settings, yet had
unwittingly enabled them due to Google's deceptive disclosures, thereby allowing Google to track their precise location. In addition, Google misrepresented that when users disabled Ads Personalization it would stop
using the user's location to target advertisements to those users, when in
fact it continued to do so.
GOOGLE DECEIVED USERS INTO ENABLING THE LOCATION HISTORY SETTING.
7. Location History continually tracks a person's movements and the places
they visit. When Location History is enabled, Google receives a person's updated location from their mobile phone. Google then creates a detailed record of a user's movements and place visits over time, storing this under
the user's Maps Timeline. Google also stores information derived from
Location History in other systems not visible to a user.
8. Location History gives Google detailed insights into people's
whereabouts and activities. Google can track when users arrive at and
leave a location. Location History collects and stores such records about
each person every single day.
9. When a user creates a Google account, the Location History setting is supposedly off by default; however, from 2014 to 2018, Google showed users deceptive prompts when they used certain Google apps to mislead users into unwittingly enabling Location History.
10. For example, when using Google Maps, Google showed users a pop-up that asked if the person wished to "[e]nhance [their] Google Maps experience" because "Google needs to periodically store your location to improve your search suggestions, route recommendations and more." However, by enabling
this "enhancement," the user unknowingly turned on Location History, which allowed Google to collect and store the user's location account-wide-even outside Maps. By simply clicking on the button labelled "Yes, I'm in"
within Google Maps, users were actually consenting to the collection and
use of their location data 24/7 by Google. Defendant also failed to
disclose the material fact that it was also using the location data for the wholly unrelated purpose of profiling the user for advertising purposes.
GOOGLE MISLED USERS INTO BELIEVING THEY HAD CONTROL OVER GOOGLE'S
COLLECTION AND USE OF THEIR LOCATION DATA.
11. For years, Google promised its users that if they turned off the
"Location History" setting, then Google would not store their location
data. This assurance should already have been implied from the name of the setting (i.e., if you turn off "Location History" then naturally the
company will not store your location history), but Google went further. It made its promise explicit in clear language on the help page for Location History that left no room for ambiguity:
12. This statement was clear and direct, and it was also false. Even when
a user turned Location History off, Google continued to collect and store
that user's location data through other sources, including a user's Web &
App Activity, which has been (and continues to be) defaulted to on when a
user creates a Google account. The Location History help page statement is
also false because even after a user turned off Location History, Google
would not delete the previously collected Location History data for the
user, but would continue to both store and use the data to serve
geotargeted ads.
13. Web & App Activity saves a record of a user's activities on various
Google products and services, including a time-stamped location. As
observed in a highly publicized AP article, with Location
History off, Google continued recording user locations when they merely
opened the Google Maps app, updated the daily weather on their phones, or
even when they searched for items that had nothing at
all to do with their location, like "chocolate chip cookies." [1]
[1] Nakashima, AP Exclusive: Google Tracks Your Location, Like it or Not,
AP News (Aug. 13, 2018) <
https://apnews.com/article/north-america-science-technology-business-ap-top-news-828aefab64d4411bac257a07c1af0ecb>.
14. Importantly, from around 2015 until 2019, Web & App Activity collected
and stored precise location data, meaning the exact latitude and longitude coordinate. On any given day, a user could have had dozens of interactions with Google's services generating dozens of records of their precise
location in Web & App Activity.
15. Generally, most users have Web & App Activity enabled because for years Google didn't give users a choice to turn it off and Google's more recent account creation process defaulted users into enabling Web & App Activity.
To change the default setting for Web & App Activity, users had to dig
through a submenu during account creation. And repeatedly, Google stated
that Web & App Activity merely "saves your activity on Google sites and
apps" without specifying that this included location data associated with
that activity, let alone that the company would use it for profiling and advertising.
GOOGLE DECEIVED USERS ABOUT THEIR ABILITY TO OPT OUT OF GEOTARGETED ADS.
16. The third account level setting is Ads Personalization. This setting governs the degree to which Google tailors advertisements on its massive advertising network to its users, including the extent to which Google uses location information to profile and target ads to consumers. But even when this setting is disabled, Google still uses people's location to geotarget
ads at them.
17. When users create an account, Google seemingly gives users the choice
of whether to receive advertisements personalized to them:
18. Users naturally assumed this means what it says: if they choose the
option labeled "Show me ads that aren't personalized" then Google will not serve ads personalized to them. But that is not true. Even if a user
turns off this setting, Google still uses the user's real-time location information to serve them targeted ads. Thus, contrary to the plain
language of the setting options, users are not actually able to choose
whether the ads they see are personalized to them.
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