Minnesota to Receive Over $8 Million as Part of Google Settlement

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office announced Monday it had reached a settlement with Google over its location tracking practices relating to Google Account settings.

Minnesota and a bipartisan coalition of Attorneys General from 39 other states reached the $391.5 million settlement, the largest multistate privacy settlement ever.

Minnesota will receive $8,251,975.29 from the settlement.

In a press release from the AG’s office, location data is a key part of Google’s digital advertising business. Google uses personal and behavioral data to build detailed user profiles and target ads for its advertising customers. Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects. Even a limited amount of location data can expose a person’s identity and routines and can be used to infer personal details.

The attorneys general opened the Google investigation following a 2018 Associated Press article that revealed Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.” The article focused on two Google account settings: Location History and Web & App Activity. Location History is off unless a user turns on the setting, but Web & App Activity, a separate account setting, is automatically on when users set up a Google account, including all Android phone users. The release says the attorneys general found that Google violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers about its location tracking practices since at least 2014.

Specifically, they accused Google of causing users to be confused about the scope of the Location History setting, the fact that the Web & App Activity setting existed and also collected location information, and the extent to which consumers who use Google products and services could limit Google’s location tracking by adjusting their account and device settings.

The settlement requires Google to be more transparent with consumers about its practices. Google must:

Show additional information to users whenever they turn a location-related account setting on or off; make specific information about location tracking unavoidable for users (i.e., not hidden), and give users detailed information about the types of location data Google collects and how it’s used at an enhanced Location Technologies webpage.

The settlement also limits Google’s use and storage of certain types of location information and requires Google account controls to be more user-friendly.

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