Google to pay fine in location tracking dispute, will have to pay $ 39.9 million penalty
Location Tacking Dispute: In recent times, Google has been in controversy regarding location tracking. Controversies have arisen regarding this issue in many countries. Google has been accused of misleading consumers.
Google will have to pay a fine to the government of the US state of Washington in a case related to it. Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on Thursday that Google will pay $39.9 million (about Rs 330 crore) to Washington State. Alphabet's unit Google has been accused of misleading consumers.
The settlement agreement seeks to address claims that the location of US users' phones and other devices is being tracked. Google is accused of tricking people into believing they are 'controlled' by it and that advertising companies use their personal data outside of search.
The governor of Washington state has said Google was intent on collecting and profiting from that data, but later disabled its tracking technology on smartphones and computers, defying consumers' privacy.
A decree filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court said Google needs to be more transparent about its tracking practices. The US court said that Google should also display a detailed location technologies web page describing this policy in the form of terms and conditions.
Google has previously denied involvement in the matter. In November, Google agreed to pay $391.5 million (roughly Rs. 3,240 crores) to resolve similar allegations by 40 US states.
Some states, including Washington, have sued Google over concerns over its tracking practices. Arizona signed an $85 million (roughly Rs. 703 crore) settlement with Google last October.
