Now, Google Faces $50 million Penalty

Caught in the messy tangle..

According to the latest bit trickling in, it is now Google that faces a $50 million legal slap by residents of Detroit, mainly certain Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski. In a class action lawsuit filed by them, Google had been accused of recording geolocation data of the Android users every few seconds and that it transmitted the same to Google several times in an hour.

Google however, has come out in a very defensive way. Clarifying its actions, Google added that unlike Apple that sent all the data of its users without gaining the permission of its users, Google’s moves were made solely after the users opted in for it. Also, the data that is stored on the phones come with a unique ID, which makes it impossible for the data to be linked directly to the synced device. The complaint however strings issues with the unencrypted nature of the data that is characteristic to Google. Apparently, unencrypted data made it more prone to vices of stalking, and other forms of privacy invasions.

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Google still maintains that all the clauses of the geolocation’s opt-in facility is made clear in the privacy policy that is made available to the users. The complainants however feel that the privacy policy provided by Google somehow blankets the opt-in feature and can be easily missed by an ordinary user.