DSGVO: Consumer advocates blame Google for false statements

Consumer advocates from seven European countries want to take action against Google's misuse of data. Norwegian, Dutch, Greek, Czech, Slovenian, Polish and Swedish badociations want to file a complaint with their respective data protection authorities, said the European Consumer Protection Association (BEUC). The Federation of German Consumers (VZBV) is therefore examining an injunction.

The reason: the American company violated its collection of user sites against the general European regulation on data protection (DSGVO). The Android operating system of Google is present on about two billion smartphones in the world. The company used a variety of tricks to ensure that users turned on location tracking or did not turn it off. The collected data would then be used for a variety of purposes, including targeted advertising.

Users would be in a hurry to obtain their consent

For example, the default settings are partially hidden when setting up a Google Account. Information on data collection on the site would be minimized and users would be encouraged to authorize collection by designing the recruitment process. In addition, the survey also takes place in the background, when users simply do not use services that rely on a location determination. This is explained in detail in a new study by the Norwegian badociation called "Every Step You Take".

"Places can say a lot about people, religious beliefs, political beliefs, health status and badual orientation," said a consumer rights advocate. However, Google has no legal reason to use this data and therefore infringes the GDPR. In addition, in these circumstances, users have not voluntarily agreed that the data be collected and processed.

"Google's hunger for data is obvious, but the fact that users are misled to track and monetize any movement is breathtaking," said Monique Goyens, Executive Director of BEUC.

The badociations' goal is, according to their own information, for the data protection authorities to investigate the allegations. It should ultimately force Google to give users an "informed choice" and protect their privacy. In addition, consumer advocates want to impose a "reasonable fine".

hint: Google has now commented on the allegations. A spokesperson said: "The location history is disabled by default and users can edit, delete or pause the settings at any time." Google "works continuously" to improve controls and "reads the report carefully to see if there are things to consider."