Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On Sunday, local time, Google announced a settlement agreement with regulators in Indiana and Washington, D.C., agreeing to pay a total of $29.5 million to settle two lawsuits related to tracking users' locations.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Google agreed not to make false statements to users about the location of individual users in location history, web and application activities.

Todd Rokita, Indiana's attorney general, said in a statement that the state had reached a $20 million settlement with Google to settle a "fraudulent location-tracking" lawsuit against Google.

"this settlement shows that we have firmly fulfilled our commitment to protect user privacy and prevented the impact of intrusive plans by tech giants," Rokita said. we will continue to hold these companies accountable for improper manipulation of consumer data. "

In 2018, several states sued Google after the media disclosed extensive tracking of users' locations. Rokita said his office filed a separate lawsuit after negotiations between Google and the coalition of state attorneys general reached an impasse. In November, Google agreed to pay nearly $392 million in settlement fees to 40 states to settle lawsuits brought by the alliance.

Rokita says Google uses location data collected from Indiana consumers to build detailed user profiles and deliver targeted ads to them. Google has misled users since at least 2014. Despite the settlement, this does not mean that Google has admitted wrongdoing.

Karl Racine, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., recently tweeted that his office had reached a $9.5 million settlement with Google. He said Google uses "dark mode" to deceive customers, including access to their location data.

Racine said his office initially sued Google because the company made it almost impossible for users to prevent their location from being tracked. Google will be asked to make clear to customers how their location data is collected, stored and used, he said.

Under the terms of the settlement, Google agreed to take various measures, including issuing pop-up notices to users who have enabled the location history feature, telling them whether the company is collecting location information. At the same time, Google will set up a special web page to explain in detail Google's location tracking practices and policies.

When asked to comment, a Google spokesman gave a blog post published in November. Google has introduced more transparency and tools to allow users to manage their data and minimize the data the company collects, it says.

The article also said that Google has introduced an automatic deletion control feature that allows users to scroll to delete their data for the first time in the industry. Google has also developed "stealth mode" on Google Maps and introduced transparent tools that allow users to access key location settings from their products.

Google said it would provide more updates in the coming months, including simplifying the deletion of location data, revamping information centers and providing more detailed explanations for users when they set up accounts.

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