NC to receive millions from Google in multi-state location tracking settlement
Google has agreed to pay out nearly $392 million to a group of 40 states, including North Carolina, in a settlement Monday over complaints it tracked consumers’ locations without their knowledge.
North Carolina will receive $17.6 million through the settlement.
“How people spend their time and where they go is intensely private,” Attorney General Josh Stein told The News & Observer Tuesday. “And if they want to keep that private from corporations who want to use that information to sell it and make money, people should have that right.”
Google’s tracking policy came to light after a 2018 Associated Press report discovered the tech giant continued to track people’s locations through their phones, even after users had turned off their location tracking.
Stein called the practice “especially problematic.”
He explained North Carolina’s share of the settlement money was calculated by its population. The money will go into the state’s general fund, with Stein saying he’ll recommend the funds be used “to address the digital divide” by enhancing internet access in the state.
Tracking location is common
Collecting and selling location data is common across “many of the apps people use every day and by data brokers,” said Jolynn Dellinger, who teaches privacy law at Duke University School of Law.
“Too often, the location data collected is not actually necessary to allow the app to function – rather, apps collect it merely to monetize it,” she said in an email. “Location data is incredibly revealing – it can tell you where a person lives, works, and travels and convey sensitive information like visits to mental health services, reproductive health and substance abuse clinics, places of worship, etc.”
In a company post Monday, Google announced it had reached a settlement with 40 state attorneys general after an investigation “based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago.”
At the end of the post, Google added “today’s settlement is another step along the path of giving more meaningful choices and minimizing data collection while providing more helpful services.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 2:10 PM.
