Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
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Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#2This lawsuit is idiotic. They're claiming Google is doing something wrong by tracking users from websites using ad tech when someone uses their browsers private browsing mode.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#3"According to the suit, the company collects information, including IP addresses and browsing histories, whenever users visit web pages or use an app tied to common Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager."
I'd really appreciate some more technical details here.
Does this include web server logs that record incoming IP addresses?
Is the expectation here that Chrome would set a DNT header in incognito mode and Google properties would then obey that header?
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#4"Secretly" is a misnomer.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#5"According to the suit, the company collects information, including IP addresses and browsing histories, whenever users visit web pages or use an app tied to common Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager." I'd really appreciate some more technical details here. Does this include web server logs that record incoming IP addresses? Is the expectation here that Chrome would set a DNT header in in…
Server logs with IP addresses are acceptable to most European privacy regulators if you only use them for a technical purpose such as debugging. And not keep them longer than needed for that.
So practically: logs are fine, delete them after a while. If you store the same information in a permanent database and use it for analysis you're in trouble and should have asked permission.
The fact that the user uses a private window or other means to indicates they don't want to be tracked probably makes this a more clear case.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#6This lawsuit is idiotic. They're claiming Google is doing something wrong by tracking users from websites using ad tech when someone uses their browsers private browsing mode.
It's not so idiotic. Google collects information that people don't want them to collect. That arguably objectionable, even if it's not strictly illegal. It will be interesting to see whether this case gets a sympathetic judge, but I imagine it will end up being dismissed like previous lawsuits of this variety. Nice bit of publicity for the law firm though.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#7This lawsuit is idiotic. They're claiming Google is doing something wrong by tracking users from websites using ad tech when someone uses their browsers private browsing mode.
There are the data privacy laws that mandate users be able to opt of tracking, and it should be pretty clear to a non-psychopathic company that a person using the private mode on their browser is opting out of any tracking.
Google is one of the biggest companies in the world. Do they really need to be wringing their users as hard as they can to milk out every last drop of ad revenue potential?
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#8"According to the suit, the company collects information, including IP addresses and browsing histories, whenever users visit web pages or use an app tied to common Google services, such as Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager." I'd really appreciate some more technical details here. Does this include web server logs that record incoming IP addresses? Is the expectation here that Chrome would set a DNT header in in…
Found the full lawsuit PDF https://www.insurancejournal.com/app/uploads/2020/06/brown-v...
It looks like this is mainly about the fact that Google Analytics still works even if you are in Incognito mode.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#9This lawsuit is idiotic. They're claiming Google is doing something wrong by tracking users from websites using ad tech when someone uses their browsers private browsing mode.
Why is it idiotic to expect Google to respect a users wish not to be tracked? Half the world has laws that require Google to ask permission. Using private browsing mode is a very clear indication the the user does not want to give them that permission.
It's really not that hard. Google and Facebook just don't want to understand it.
Re: Google sued for secretly amassing vast trove of user data
#10This lawsuit is idiotic. They're claiming Google is doing something wrong by tracking users from websites using ad tech when someone uses their browsers private browsing mode.
Is the legal to tell your users you are doing something when you are intentionally not doing it?
A Privacy mode that post the links you visit on twitter. ;)