Google has settled location tracking lawsuits worth $29.5 million that were filed by Washington, D.C., and the state of Indiana. Google will pay Washington, D.C., $9.5 million while $20 million will go to Indiana.
As Location Business News reported last month, Google agreed to pay 40 states $391.5 million to settle similar allegations that claimed the search engine giant tracked users’ location without their consent. Indiana branched off of this lawsuit to get more settlement money, according to the Indiana attorney general’s office.
“Google claims that changing your device and account settings protects your data. The truth is, since 2014, Google has systematically surveilled users no matter what settings they choose,” tweeted D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, last year.
The overall investigation, led by Oregon and Nebraska with 38 other state attorney generals, found that Google mislead its users to think they had turned off location tracking features on their smartphones. However, the user location data was stored and then used for Google’s lucrative ad business.
