The lawsuit, filed in a court in California, in the United States, accuse Google of generating profits from the sale of targeted advertising.
Four Android phone users in the United States sued Google for unauthorized transmission of data to the company’s servers from their mobile devices. Without knowing what kind of information they are sharing, lawyers state that the data is flowing even without the installment of any additional applications.
The plaintiffs tested a Samsung Galaxy S7 and found that the phone passively sends data at a rate of 8.8MB per day, or almost 270MB per month. The analysis determined that 94% of the device’s interactions were with Google, those affected reported.
The document stated that the phone used for the evaluations was new, kept with all applications closed, and untouched. In addition to this, the phone was set up with a new Google account and was not even connected to any wi-fi network.
“The analysis also found that when the device was left to sleep it sent and received 8.88 MB / day of data, and 94% of those communications were between Google and the device. In total, the transference of information between the device and Google happened approximately 389 times in 24 hours, for an average of more than 16 times per hour ”, this report appears in the lawsuit filed in court in California.
For users, Google would have designed the Android operating system to collect large amounts of data. The purpose would be to generate annual “billions of profits” in dollars thanks to the sale of advertising.
The main concern of the complainants is, of course, their privacy, this phenomenon exposes them completely. For them, it is a methodology to “perfect Google’s advertising business.” Among the data that the users can share, these are: location, application usage log, and information related to Google accounts.
Privacy and data management by internet companies
Another point that stands out in the complaint is that, according to the plaintiffs, none of the Android use agreements, such as the Terms of Services, Privacy Policy, Google Agreement, and the Google Play Terms of Service, are any detail about this type of passive data transmission.
In its privacy policies, Google explains that mobile devices maintain contact with their servers when there are interactions with their applications. However, users claim that these guidelines do not mention passive information transfers or the intentions for which they occur.
The management of data and the privacy of users is an eternal debate between internet companies such as Google or Facebook, user communities, regulatory bodies, and even governments.
In August that Google would implement new “improvements” for Internet browsing. The announcement was not well-received by the developers of the Brave browser, who claimed that Google’s proposal, called the web bundle, is openly a privacy hazard.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
