The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been hunting Google since late 2019 over its opaque data collection practices. In a landmark ruling this week, the Federal Court of Australia has confirmed that Google did in fact mislead consumers about personal location data collected on Android smartphones between January 2017 and December 2018.
Privacy is a pressing concern for many individuals around the world and this decision will employ digital companies like Google to provide transparent details on when and how data is collected. The Federal Court held that during a consumer’s initial set up of their Google Account, Google misrepresented the manner and account settings for which data was collected. Additionally, there was a “web & app activity” setting that was turned on by default to collect personally identifiable location data. This created a further problem when switching off the settings, as Google did not inform users that the “web & app activity” setting would continue to stay on even if consumers turned off “location history”. Moreover, the Federal Court ruled that Google’s conduct was misleading to the public due to the representations expressed in these settings.
However, the Federal Court also dismissed several of the ACCC’s allegations regarding the method by which consumers could refuse to have data collected by Google. The ACCC is now seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, compliance orders, as well as a public notice to Australian consumers for how Google collects user data.
But Google is not going down without a fight and a Google spokesperson said that the company is presently reviewing its options to potentially appeal the decision.