Bloomberg reports that in a major legal blow to tech giant Google, a state court jury in San Jose, California handed down a $314 million verdict against the company on Tuesday. The decision came following a trial over a class-action lawsuit that accused Google of misusing the cellular data of Android smartphone users.
According to the lawsuit, Google programmed Android phones to transfer data to its servers even when users were not connected to a WiFi network. This practice essentially stole the cellular data that customers were paying for without their knowledge or permission.
The plaintiffs in the case alleged that Google used this illicitly obtained data to further its own business interests. Specifically, they claim the information was used to build more targeted digital advertising and expand the company’s mapping capabilities.
A Google spokesperson, stated that the company strongly disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal the decision. The spokesperson argued that the data transfers in question are necessary to maintain the performance and reliability of billions of Android devices worldwide. He also claimed the transfers use less cellular data than sending a single photo.
Furthermore, Google claims Android users consent to these data transfers through multiple terms of use agreements and device setting options. However, the jury ultimately rejected Google’s arguments.
Data centers costing billions and billions of are being built all over the country. These massive electricity consuming buildings are packed with servers storing internet search information, calls and text messages, photos, location pings from everyone with a computers and cell phones. These centers are what the phone and internet providers call the “Cloud”. We are constantly being spied on by big brother and it will never go away. If government wants to know something about you, they can retrieve it from the “Cloud”. That’s the facts and way it is in these modern times, get used to it. However we haven’t completely converted to digital currency yet, which is being tracked and stored too. We can still fight that by continuing to use cash and not depend on debit and credit cards for every purchase or payment.