Google Faces Lawsuit Over Location Sharing

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A report that Google still tracks your location even after you turn Location History off is prompting a privacy lawsuit that seeks class-action status.

Google's location-tracking practices may land the tech giant in hot water legally, as the company is now facing a lawsuit as well as increased scrutiny from Washington.

In the suit, reported on by Ars Technica, user Napoleon Patacsil alleges that Google violated both the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the state's constitutional right to privacy when it continued to access and store geolocation information even after he set Location History to off on both his iPhone and Android device.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is seeking class action status, potentially meaning other Android and iOS users could join in on the case. The suit is asking the court for injunctive relief as well as unspecified damages.

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Google's location tracking tactics came under scrutiny last week after an Associated Press report found that Google continued to log time-stamped information about user locations even after users specifically turned off that feature. The AP report was based on testing conducted by a Princeton University data researcher. Google says it uses that information to improve user experience. (You can put a stop to that kind of data collection by turning off Web & App Activity, as we detail in this tutorial on stopping Google location tracking.)

Since the AP's initial report, Google has amended its support page to be more upfront about what data it's collecting even after Location History is turned off. According to the updated page, Location History doesn't effect Google Location Services and Find My Device, and that some location data may be saved when you uses services like Maps and Search.

That revision doesn't seem like it's going to satisfy critics of Google's practices. (In fact, the lawsuit specifically calls out Google's updated Location History help page.) In the wake of AP's report, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called for the Federal Trade Commission to look into the company's privacy practices. Blumenthal and another senator, Edward Markey (D-Mass.) had asked for an FTC probe into how Google tracks locations earlier this year, according to the Washington Post.

Google and the FTC reached a settlement in 2011 over the company's privacy practices in the wake of its launch the since-shuttered Google Buzz social network. As part of that settlement, Google was barred from "future privacy misrepresentations" and required to implement a privacy program that could be reviewed over the next 20 years.

Philip Michaels
Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • webworkings
    I was telling people this would happen years ago and they said I was being paranoid. Alas, it is both good and bad to know I was right. :/
    Reply
  • crashnalot
    I'm sick of your "this is scary" "this is terrible for you" click bait push notifications. I only clicked on this one to tell you how annoying it is. Please stop with the click bait...
    Reply
  • 115155
    There is really no point in this suit because you don't have to let them know your exact location when using there product, so it's anyone who allows them to track them to know what they are accepting.
    Reply