Court: Google Broke Australian Law over Location Data Collection

The google logo. Reuters file photo
The google logo. Reuters file photo
TT

Court: Google Broke Australian Law over Location Data Collection

The google logo. Reuters file photo
The google logo. Reuters file photo

Google violated Australian law by misleading users of Android mobile devices about the use of their location data, a court ruled Friday in a landmark decision against the global digital giant.

The US company faces potential fines of "many millions" of dollars over the case, which was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the regulators' chief Rod Sims said.

The federal court found that in 2017 and 2018 Google misled some users of phones and tablets featuring its Android operating system by collecting their personally identifiable location information even when they had opted out of sharing "Location History" data.

It said Google notably failed to make clear that allowing tracking of "Web & App Activity" under a separate setting on their devices included the location details.

Various studies around the world have documented the problem of location data being gathered through Android and iPhone devices without users' knowledge or explicit permission.

Such data can be highly valuable to advertisers trying to pitch location-related products and services.

But the ACCC's Sims said Friday's court decision was "the first ruling of its type in the world in relation to these location data issues."

"This is an important victory for consumers, especially anyone concerned about their privacy online, as the court's decision sends a strong message to Google and others that big businesses must not mislead their customers," he said.

"Today's decision is an important step to make sure digital platforms are upfront with consumers about what is happening with their data and what they can do to protect it."

In his ruling, Federal Court Judge Thomas Thawley "partially" accepted the ACCC case against Google, noting that the company's "conduct would not have misled all reasonable users" of its service.

But he added that Google's action "misled or was likely to mislead some reasonable users" and that "the number or proportion of reasonable users who were misled, or were likely to have been misled, does not matter" in establishing contraventions of the law.

The ACCC said it would seek "pecuniary penalties" that could amount to US$850,000 per breach, potentially totaling "many millions" of dollars, national broadcaster ABC quoted Sims as saying.
Google protested the ruling, which it noted had rejected some of the ACCC's "broad claims" against it and concerned only a narrowly defined class of users.

"We disagree with the remaining findings and are currently reviewing our options, including a possible appeal," AFP quoted a spokesperson as saying.

"We provide robust controls for location data and are always looking to do more -- for example we recently introduced auto delete options for Location History, making it even easier to control your data," they said.

Last year, Google was targeted alongside Facebook by the ACCC for failing to compensate Australian news organizations for content posted to their platforms.

The dispute led to landmark legislation requiring digital firms to pay for news and resulted in Google and Facebook signing deals worth millions of dollars to Australian media companies.



Google to Open Second Data Center in Latin America, to Invest Over $850 Mln 

The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
TT

Google to Open Second Data Center in Latin America, to Invest Over $850 Mln 

The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)

Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it will open its second data center in Latin America in the Uruguayan city of Canelones and invest more than $850 million in it.

Google opened its first data center in Latin America in Quilicura, which is near Santiago, the capital city of Chile, in 2015. It invested an initial amount of $150 million in the data center and spent an additional $140 million in 2018 for expansion.

"We hope our new data center in Canelones will be a significant contribution to the professional and technological development of Uruguay and the entire region," Google said in a blog post.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Google is considering building a "hyperscale" data center close to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and that the center would be ready in 2027.

In April, Google announced a $3 billion investment to set up a data center campus in Indiana and expand sites in Virginia. Google also said in May that it will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to develop its first data center and Google Cloud region in the country.