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Of The $400 Million Settlement For Google’s Tracking Practices, $26 Million Will Go To Florida

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As part of the compromise that was reached between Google and the attorneys general of forty different states, Florida will receive $26 million of the $400 million that Google has agreed to pay out. On Monday, the historic multistate action against Google was announced by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. The announcement came as a result of an investigation into Google’s cybersecurity disclosures and location tracking practices that was conducted by Moody and 39 other state attorneys general. Google is obligated to pay a total of $391.5 million to the states, with $26 million coming to the state of Florida. Additionally, the company is compelled to provide customers with better transparency and clarity on tracking methods.

Moody stated in a news statement that, “Big tech is watching us, but Silicon Valley needs to know that we are watching them too, and if they break our consumer protection laws, we will take aggressive action to safeguard our citizens.” “This is a landmark case for the protection of consumers across the country and for the privacy of Americans, and I am glad that our office was able to help lead this major investigation across the country.”

The digital advertising business that Google runs is predicated, to a significant extent, on the location data that the corporation collects. However, such data, even if it is only a little quantity of it, might reveal not only the identify of a person but also the routines that people follow, which can give further personal characteristics.

An story published in 2018 by the Associated Press revealed that Google has been monitoring the movements of its users despite being instructed not to do so. This revelation spurred a probe of Google’s practices by multiple states. The article investigated the user’s location history, which is turned off by default, as well as the user’s browser and app activity, which is turned on when the user creates a Google account; this applies to all customers who use Android phones. Moody’s issued a press release that stated, “As detailed in the agreement, the attorneys general found that Google allegedly violated state laws by misleading consumers about location-tracking practices in various ways since at least 2014,” and the text of the release was taken directly from the agreement. “Specifically, the company caused confusion among individuals who assumed location monitoring could be reduced by turning off Location History, while Web and App Activity continued to track users’ locations,” the company said in a statement.

Google has committed, as part of the settlement, to take steps toward increasing the amount of transparency that pertain to the activities of the corporation. In addition, the agreement places restrictions on the ways in which the location information may be used and the ways in which it could be retained, all while making the settings for the account more user-friendly.

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