In the first ruling of its variety , the Australian Federal Courtannouncedon Friday that Google violated the rural area ’s laws surrounding consumer base hit when it misled Australian Android users about the location information that their phones were collecting .
The determination was a partial win for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission — or ACCC — that first raise charges against the fellowship backin 2019over the “ deceptive representations ” the company made about the on - embarkation process Google used for newfangled Android machine throughout 2017 and 2018 .
“ This is an important triumph for consumer , specially anyone concerned about their privateness online , ” ACC Chair Rod Sims said in a statement . “ Today ’s decision is an significant step to verify digital platforms are upfront with consumers about what is happening with their data and what they can do to protect it . ”
Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)
Specifically , Sydney Justice Thomas Thawley rule that when consumer were creating the Google accountsthey’d needin order to use their new Android equipment , the company mislead those exploiter into believe Google ’s “ locating chronicle ” setting was the only one that had any effect on the way Google amass or keep their location data . In realness , there was another setting—”Web & App Activity — that also let Google to track that same location data point when it was turned on . And as the Court pointed out in its ruling , it was turned on by nonremittal during this two - year stretch .
During that same period , the Court also plant that when these same consumers would check up on their Location chronicle configurations and try turning it off , they were misled again , since Google did n’t inform them that leaving their Activity setting switch on would render this permutation - flip moot .
In a statement toABC News , a Google representative pointed out that the court rejected “ many of the ACCC ’s large-minded claims , ” and that the party “ [ disagrees ] with the remaining findings . ” There ’s also a chance the party may essay appealing the case , per the company ’s statement .
As for what ’s up next in the eccentric , the ACCC stated it ’s going to be check compliance club and any sort of penalty amercement at a later date . On top of that , the Commission is seek to order a statement from Google to its Australian consumers , better explain the company’slabyrinthian privacy settingsmoving forward .
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