Google to pay $62 million in compensation for location tracking without consent

A court has ordered Google to pay $62 million as a settlement of a lawsuit for tracking and storing users' location information without their consent. The amount will be used to pay out for a class action lawsuit that followed an Associated Press investigation in 2018.

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On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila approved the final $62 million settlement. The settlement was the result of an investigation that confirmed Google continued to capture and store users' location data despite their refusal to consent.

In 2018, Google assured users that their data would not be tracked if they turned off the location history feature on their devices. However, an Associated Press investigation found otherwise.

The investigation indicated that Google continued to access and store geolocation information of users who disabled their location history. Apps and services such as Google Maps, weather apps and searches made using the phone's mobile browser revealed the user's location and Google stored it even when location history was disabled.

Google's $62 million will go into a non-refundable cash fund. The 21 non-profit organisation will be given funds to maintain and protect the privacy rights of its members. Other payments include $18.6 million in plaintiff's attorneys' fees, $151,756 in unreimbursed expenses, and awards of $5,000 to each of the three settlement class representatives. This represents 30% of the settlement amount. The usual benchmark is 25%. The judge called it an "extremely successful result."

Source: Android Headlines, Associated Press