Google Will Pay $20 Million To Indiana To Settle A Privacy Lawsuit: According to state Attorney General Todd Rokita, Google will make a $20 million payment to Indiana to end the state’s legal dispute with the internet giant over allegedly dishonest location monitoring methods.
When discussions between the business and a group of state attorneys general came to a standstill, Rokitas, he claimed, filed a different complaint against the search engine giant. In November, the business and those states settled worth $391.5 million.
According to Rokita’s declaration on Thursday, Indiana obtained roughly twice as much money as it would have under the agreement with the 40 states in the coalition due to the separate case.
This agreement, according to Rokita, “is another illustration of our unwavering dedication to shield Hoosiers from Big Tech’s intrusive plans.”
States started looking into the matter after an Associated Press report in 2018 revealed that Google kept track of users’ location data even after they opted out of it by turning off a feature the company called “location history.”
Under the agreement with Indiana, Google made no admissions of wrongdoing.
In a long statement released on Friday, the firm said that during the previous five years, it had increased openness and created tools to assist customers in managing their data and reduce the amount of data it collected. The ability to automatically remove data on a rolling basis has been made available to all new users, according to Google. It has activated auto-delete controls and turned them on by default.
Google added that it created options like Google Maps’ incognito mode.
The business stated, “These are just a few ways we have endeavored to provide more choice and transparency.”
In Indiana’s case, Google is accused of using location data to create in-depth user profiles and target advertisements. It claimed that from at least 2014, the business has misled and deceived users about its procedures.
Because even a small bit of location data might reveal a person’s identity and routines, Rokita claimed he filed a lawsuit against Google. According to him, such data can be used to infer personal information such as income, health status, political or religious affiliation, and membership in support groups—as well as significant life events like marriage and childbirth.
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