Google Found Guilty Of Misleading Australian Customers On Data Collection
Google Found Guilty Of Misleading Australian Customers On Data Collection
BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, APR 16, 2021 - 01:40 PM Authored by Rebecca Zhu via The Epoch Times,
The Australian Federal Court has found Google guilty of
misleading customers about personal location data collection on android mobile
devices in a world-first enforcement action by the country’s consumer watchdog.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been pursuing legal action against Google’s “misleading conduct” since Oct. 2019.
“This is an important victory for consumers, especially anyone
concerned about their privacy online, as the Court’s decision sends a strong
message to Google and others that big businesses must not mislead their
customers,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
“Today’s decision is an important step to make sure
digital platforms are upfront with consumers about what is happening with their
data and what they can do to protect it,” Sims said.
The ACCC claimed Google
breached Australian consumer law from at least Jan. 2017 when it gave users the
false impression of opting out of location data collection when the ‘location
history’ setting was turned off.
Google, the court found, did not properly disclose to customers
that both the ‘location history’ and ‘web & app activity’ settings had to
be switched off if customers did not want their personal data collected, kept,
and used by the tech giant.
Federal court judge Justice Thomas Thawley concluded that
Google’s conduct “would not have misled all reasonable users.” But would have
likely misled some reasonable users, he said.
“The number or proportion of reasonable users who
were misled, or were likely to have been misled, does not matter for
the purposes of establishing contraventions,” Thawley said in
the judgement.
The ACCC chairman said he was “absolutely delighted” with the
positive court outcome and noted it was the “first ruling of its type in the
world” concerning location data issues.
“Companies that collect information must explain their
settings clearly and transparently, so consumers are not misled,”
Sims said.
“Consumers should not be kept in the dark when it comes to the
collection of their personal location data.”
However, Google said the court had rejected many claims made by
the ACCC and that it disagreed with the final ruling. The company also declared
it was looking into the possibility of appealing the case.
“We disagree with the remaining findings and are currently
reviewing our options, including a possible appeal,” a Google spokesman said.
The Australia Institute’s think-tank Center for Responsible
Technology (CRT) said the case highlighted the “complexity of Big Tech terms and conditions.”
“The reality is most people have little to no idea on how much
of their data is being used by Google and online platforms,” CRT
director Peter Lewis said.
“Australia Institute research shows that you need a university education and
that it takes an average of 74 minutes to read most terms and conditions.
“It is
hardly surprising that people end up in this strange world between accepting
terms and not understanding them,” Lewis.
Rob Nicholls, an associate professor at the University of New
South Wales, told The Epoch Times that the ruling was a major decision that
would impact the approach to “click-through” agreements on a global basis.
However, he said it would not affect Google’s current business
model.
“It was
interesting that the judgment took the view that the conduct was only partially
misleading,” Nicholls said. “This is likely to be important in
[Google’s] appeal process.”
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