Lawsuit accuses Google of tracking user activity in apps
Alphabet’s Google records what people are doing on hundreds
of thousands of mobile apps even when they follow the company’s recommended
settings for stopping such monitoring, a lawsuit seeking class action status
alleged on Tuesday.
The data privacy lawsuit is the second filed in as many
months against Google by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner on behalf a
handful of individual consumers. The firm’s clients also have included Google
competitors such as Facebook and Oracle.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on the filing.
The new complaint in a US district court in San Jose accuses
Google of violating federal wiretap law and California privacy law by logging
what users are looking at in news, ride-hailing and other types of apps despite
their having turned off “Web & App Activity” tracking in their Google
account settings.
The lawsuit alleges the data collection happens through
Google’s Firebase, a set of software popular among app makers for storing data,
delivering notifications and ads, and tracking glitches and clicks. Firebase
typically operates inside apps invisibly to consumers.
“Even when consumers follow Google’s own instructions and
turn off ‘Web & App Activity’ tracking on their ‘Privacy Controls,’ Google
nevertheless continues to intercept consumers’ app usage and app browsing
communications and personal information,” the lawsuit contends.
Google uses some Firebase data to improve its products and
personalize ads and other content for consumers, according to the lawsuit.
Reuters reported in March that US antitrust investigators
are looking into whether Google has unlawfully stifled competition in
advertising and other businesses by effectively making Firebase unavoidable.
In its case last month, Boies Schiller Flexner accused
Google of surreptitiously recording Chrome browser users’ activity even when
they activated what Google calls Incognito mode. Google said it would fight the
claim.
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