Australian watchdog accuses Google of privacy breaches
Australia’s consumer watchdog launched court action
against Google on Monday alleging the technology giant misled account holders
about its use of their personal data.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s
action in the Federal Court is the latest litigation Google has faced around
the world over allegations of privacy breaches.
The commission alleges the California-based company
misled millions of Australians to obtain their consent and expand the scope of
personal information that Google collects about users’ internet activity to
target advertising.
The allegations arise from Google’s move in 2016 to
start combining users’ personal information in their Google accounts with
information from the same users’ activity on non-Google sites that used Google
technology, formerly DoubleClick technology, to display ads.
“We allege that Google did not obtain explicit
consent from customers to take this step,” the commission’s chair, Rod Sims,
said in a statement.
“The ACCC considers that consumers effectively pay
for Google’s services with their data, so this change introduced by Google
increased the ‘price’ of Google’s services, without consumers’ knowledge,” Sims
added.
Google said it had cooperated with the watchdog in
its investigation and that its account holders had been asked to “consent via
prominent and easy-to-understand notifications.”
“We strongly disagree with their allegations and
intend to defend our position,” a Google statement said.
Google has also been closely involved with the
watchdog in recent months over the Australian government’s plan to make global
digital platforms including Facebook pay for content siphoned from news media.
The commission this week will release draft rules
for the platforms to pay fair compensation for journalistic content after the
coronavirus pandemic slashed advertising revenue for legacy media.
British regulators want new rules to foster
competition in digital advertising markets and rein in the industry’s dominant
players, Google and Facebook.
The Competition and Markets Authority have taken aim
at the U.S. tech giants in a report that recommends the British government
adopt a new regulatory approach to governing big digital platforms making money
from online ads.
Google announced last month that it was tweaking its
privacy settings to keep less data on new users by default, automatically and
continuously deleting web and app activity as well as location history after 18
months.
France’s highest administrative court last month
upheld a fine of 50 million euros ($56 million) Google was ordered to pay for
not being “sufficiently clear and transparent” with Android users about their
data protection options.
In Canada, Google abandoned its smart-city development
in Toronto after more than two years of controversy over privacy concerns and
amid economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
In the United States, New Mexico’s attorney general
has filed a lawsuit in the District Court over allegations that Google
illegally collected personal data generated by children in violation of federal
and state laws.
In Australia, it is not clear what penalty Google
might face if the watchdog’s lawsuit succeeds. The commission has made multiple
allegations of consumer law breaches, each carrying a potential maximum fine of
1.1 million Australian dollars ($780 million).
Australia substantially beefed up penalties for such
offenses in 2018, but Google will be judged by the rules that applied in 2016.
