When the next time you give your smart phone’s location tracking control to Google, please be aware that the internet juggernaut can use it to create a virtual user profile and target ads onto your device. Maps, YouTube search history, YouTube watch history, voice and audio interactions, Google app’s location history, web and app activity can all send your precise location (Wi-Fi n Cellular Tower location) to the servers of the web search giant and aftermath follows.
Expressing their discontent, two states of the United States launched a lawsuit against the tech company and it seems like the Gmail service offering company has agreed to pay $29.7 million to resolve the case outside the court.
As per the details available to our Cybersecurity Insiders, if all goes well, DC will get a financial gain of $9.5 million and Indiana will gain $20 million from the settlement against the lawsuit.
A similar settlement was also announced by the Alphabet Inc’s subsidiary and an amount of $392m to be disbursed to 40 states was also made formal, last month.
Mind you, the settlement will be made to the state and will be used for that state’s welfare and development, as per the Governor’s consent. And it will be not distributed to the end users of the online services, under any circumstances- regarding a heated discussion that took place on Redditt last month.
NOTE- Google claims to auto-delete locations history of a specific device and IP address after 30 days of generation and it also deletes the location data of inactive users. However, this can differ if the user has opted otherwise in Web & App Activity Web Page.
