Google Will Pay $1.4 Billion to Texas to Settle Claims It Collected User Data Without Permission (apnews.com) 29
Google will pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas, reports the Associated Press, "to settle claims the company collected users' data without permission, the state's attorney general announced Friday."
Attorney General Ken Paxton described the settlement as sending a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to make money off of "selling away our rights and freedoms."
"In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law." Paxton said in a statement. "For years, Google secretly tracked people's movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won...."
The state argued Google was "unlawfully tracking and collecting users' private data." Paxton claimed, for example, that Google collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through such products and services as Google Photos and Google Assistant. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the agreement settles an array of "old claims," some of which relate to product policies the company has already changed. "We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services," he said in a statement. The company also clarified that the settlement does not require any new product changes.
Google's settlement with Texas "far surpasses any other state's claims for similar violations," according to a statement from their attorney general's office. "To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million — almost a billion dollars less than Texas's recovery."
The statement calls the $1.375 billion settlement "a major win for Texans' privacy" that "tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust."
"In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law." Paxton said in a statement. "For years, Google secretly tracked people's movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won...."
The state argued Google was "unlawfully tracking and collecting users' private data." Paxton claimed, for example, that Google collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through such products and services as Google Photos and Google Assistant. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the agreement settles an array of "old claims," some of which relate to product policies the company has already changed. "We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services," he said in a statement. The company also clarified that the settlement does not require any new product changes.
Google's settlement with Texas "far surpasses any other state's claims for similar violations," according to a statement from their attorney general's office. "To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million — almost a billion dollars less than Texas's recovery."
The statement calls the $1.375 billion settlement "a major win for Texans' privacy" that "tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust."
A win for privacy (Score:1)
Re:A win for privacy (Score:5, Insightful)
A win for the people. Ken Paxton's been doing good work.
You sure that wasn’t also a win for Google? Because I was looking at that pocket-change settlement and realizing once again that this fine is nothing more than the cost of doing business regardless of the law. Also known as one of the benefits of being Too Big To Fail.
When a fine changes the inherent behavior of Greed, then I’ll believe it was effective. Hasn’t happened yet. (Oh and by the way, that also includes the attorney that walks away with fucking millions.)
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-- The Modern Left.
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Imagine going through life this stupid.
Didn't Trump just kill rural broadband because it was "racist"?
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I'll be awaiting this evidence in your reply.
Re: A win for privacy (Score:2)
Since you've been monitoring his whole career, you'll have zero problem showing the evidence he is a member of the KKK.
I'll be awaiting this evidence in your reply.
It's common sense
Re: A win for privacy (Score:2)
Do you have evidence Ken Paxton is affiliated with the KKK? I don't think you do, and your words constitute slander.
That's what people say
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Ken Paxton's been doing good work.
Paxton seems to have been doing a good job at grift, yes, in my opinion. Recall he was charged with receiving bribes. He was acquitted. Strangely, he was acquitted after he paid Dan Patrick a few million dollars... To my eye, that appears as if he paid a bribe to avoid being impeached, and while Paxton and Patrick both say that isn't the case, from the outside looking in it doesn't have a great optic to me. And while I'm not normally one to criticize others for consensual sexual encounters among adults, I w
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Please continue to use this word in the *first* sentence. It's helpful to me to avoid the rest of your wall of text.
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So not only are Ken's specific scams a myth, the very concept of scamming, in and of itself, is a liberal myth. Fascinating!
Re: A win for privacy (Score:2)
How... Google just settled. They're collecting exactly the same information now as they always have. There's another line of text in the click through agreement when you setup your voice assistant that says you agree to your biometric information being captured. As google says, that's already there.
It's a high tech version of your coffee may be hot label. If Google was illegally selling biometric data or otherwise violating the law in some serious way, they'd have a conviction right?
With a $350 billion annual revenue (Score:4, Insightful)
A good start but it always helps to put this in perspective.
They made $350 billion in revenue 2024. Over $100 billion in income.
I assure you they make a profit breaking these laws. $1.4 isn't a small amount though, if it keeps happening.
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With Ken & Co, you can believe the threat of "we'll make this keep happening" is conditional not on whether Google continues to collect data, but whether they co-operate with unrelated extrajudicial demands. For example, it's not uncommon for there to be negative press about Mr. Ken and his interests, that may need to be suppressed in the search results.
I wish the fines, at least, were going toward something good. Even setting aside the piece that Ken's going to skim off, the rest of the Texas governmen
So we are just bitches for the state to profit off (Score:4, Interesting)
I mean do we consumers see any of this billion or were we just there to be little bitches to justify the states massive haul.
Inquiring minds want to know
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The government using this fine towards anything that benefits people would be socialism and we certainly can’t have that.
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or were we just there to be little bitches to justify the states massive haul.
Got it in one!
Not enough (Score:1)
"Is not above the law" (Score:4, Funny)
Proceeds to sign agreement absolving Google of any legal wrongdoing
a major win for? (Score:4, Insightful)
"The statement calls the $1.375 billion settlement "a major win for Texans' privacy"..."
But it's not. Texans' privacy is violated and those victims will not be compensated. The money is being paid to the state, not to the victims.
So the message is, you can't violate our citizens' privacy without giving us a cut.