Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Google misled users about their privacy and now owes them $425m, says court (www.malwarebytes.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Zerush@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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A court ordered Google to pay $425 million after finding the company misled 98 million users about data collection through its "Web & App Activity" setting[^1]. The case revealed Google continued gathering user data via Firebase, a monitoring database embedded in 97% of top Android apps and 54% of leading iOS apps, even after users disabled data collection[^1].

Google's internal communications showed the company was "intentionally vague" about its data collection practices because being transparent "could sound alarming to users," according to district judge Richard Seeborg[^1].

This ruling adds to Google's recent privacy settlements, including:

$392 million paid to 40 states in 2023 for location tracking violations
$40 million to Washington state for similar location tracking issues
$1.38 billion to Texas in 2025 over location tracking and incognito mode claims[^1]

Google plans to appeal the $425 million verdict, with spokesperson Jose Castaneda stating "This decision misunderstands how our products work" and asserting that Google honors user privacy choices[^1].

[^1]: Malwarebytes - Google misled users about their privacy and now owes them $425m, says court

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[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 6 days ago

People were ever confused about Google's relationship with privacy?

I think if anyone is financially liable for misleading anyone, it's the Android community. I mean the fanboys, the anti-Apple guys, the ones who downplayed, omitted, or straight up lied about Android being a vehicle for data collection first and foremost. But they have no direct financial gain for doing so (they gain nothing if you buy a phone running Android, and they lose nothing if you buy an iPhone) so they can't be held liable.

Google has never been your friend if you care about privacy. You use Google tools because they're free and they're pretty good. You pay with your privacy. Always have. You use Android because it's more customisable than iOS, and because of the illusion of open source (iOS is based on macOS which was based on NeXTSTEP which was basically UNIX, so who cares if Android is Linux?). And because you can install custom firmware (e.g. GrapheneOS) which is Android with the tracking stuff stripped out. But you're still paying Google and paying into their business model, i.e. rewarding them for bad behaviour (or at least that which you profess to disapprove of).

(FWIW, I use both platforms. I like both platforms, and I can tell you what I like more about each one beyond what I've said, but it's apocryphal at best.)