ACCC: Google misled users about collecting location data

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCCbrought a case against her Google, accusing her of misleading users about data location collected from Appliances Android.

According to ACCC charges, the technology company had not properly advised Australian users on how to protect their data. During the 2017-2018 time period, Google did not tell users that they should do specific actions, such as disable setting "Location History" on their Android device as well as setting "Web & App Activity" to not store data location Google.

The ACCC claims that the company had given users the impression that the only thing they needed to turn off was the History setting. This means it has misled users.

"We argue that Google misled users by never saying that another arrangement should also be disabled," said ACCC President Rod Sims.

"Many users consciously decide to disable settings to stop collecting location data, but we contend that Google's behavior may have prevented some users from doing so."

Also, the ACCC claims that last year (during the second half) Google had advised users not to use their services Maps and Search if they do not want their location data to be collected. In reality, however, disabling the two settings above was enough.

Another category of ACCC concerns the use of location data by Google or rather what Google says about data usage and what it really does.

“Since March of 2017, when a user goes on settings 'Web and App Activity' Google displays on-screen messages saying that location data is only collected and used by Google to allow users to use its services, "the committee said. The same message began to appear in the "Location History" setting from May on 2018.

However, the Committee claims that Google also uses data for other purposes for which it does not inform users.

The ACCC conducts ongoing investigations into large companies for protection of consumer-users. Five investigations involving Google and Google were under way in August Facebook.