Google Sued For Tracking Users' Locations

RedEaredSlider writes "Two Android phone users are suing Google for $50 million in the wake of revelations that their phones might be tracking their locations. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on April 27, is seeking class-action status. The plaintiffs, Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, are residents of Oakland County. The two say in the suit that Google's privacy policy did not say that the phones broadcast their location information. Further, they say Google knew that most users would not understand that the privacy policy would allow for Google to track users' locations." Apple was sued for their location tracking last week. According to Boy Genius Report, iOS tracking will be addressed in version 4.3.3, which is due out within a couple weeks.

Yeah, I mean...

[mdm-adph]

...doesn't it tell you upon first startup of _every_ Android phone that Google is going to be tracking your location ("sending anonymous location statistics"), and that you can turn it off if you want, but you won't be able to use apps and features that require it? It's not buried somewhere in the TOS -- it's an entire screen that you have to go through upon setting up an Android phone.

There's a key difference here.

[lowlymarine]

On Android, you have to MANUALLY TURN ON network-location-based services (they are disabled by default), and when you do so, you are given a warning that anonymized information will be collected by Google. The only way you could be unaware of this "tracking" is if you failed to read the warning before tapping "agree," and that's hardly Google's fault. This isn't some sprawling 100-page EULA with the warning buried in the middle, either. It's two flipping sentences.

Re:There's a key difference here.

[lowlymarine]

Following the initial set-up, network location is STILL OFF until you go into settings and enable it. Hence, "disabled by default." If the salesman then proceeded to go into settings and turn on network location without telling the customer, then sue the store, not Google.

Are users really that oblivious

[realsilly]

Even cell phones with those tiny SIM cards allow a User to be tracked. So why wouldn't makers of cell phones that do everything but cook for you do any less?

DUH!

Re:good

[Jahava]

> Location tracking is part of the spec...

True. The problem, however, is that everyone jumped up and down to give all their personal data to the phone companies with subscription plans.

If my phone is prepaid and the phone company has no clue whatsoever who the phone belongs to, then the towers knowing the location of that phone means nothing.

I was always amazed at how many people were willing to get locked into plans.

Not so; it is easy to de-anonymize tracking information by looking at the heavily-traveled areas. Most likely, those are your workplace and your place of residence. I'll bet that's enough to uniquely identify the vast majority of people.

That's the problem with location information. It's invariably tied to your physical self and your lifestyle, anonymous or not.

Re:What a crock of double standard!

[Lunix Nutcase]

On my iPhone 4, I can't do that, no matter how badly I want to.

Only because you are ignorant of how to do so. You can disable it on iOS just like in Android.

Re:What a crock of double standard!

[flimflammer]

Except until the next update comes out, you can't actually stop it from collecting the data even if you turn it off. That's what he meant.