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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – New Mexico is suing Google, Twitter, and other companies that develop and market mobile games for children, claiming that apps violate national and federal laws by collecting personal information that could compromise privacy.
The lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday night comes amid concerns about data sharing between users.
A few weeks ago, social media giant Facebook has released one of its own apps on possible intrusions into privacy. A recent Associated Press survey revealed that several Google apps and websites store the user 's location.
The Attorney General of New Mexico, Hector Balderas, said that he was concerned that applications could follow with such precision that children live, play and go to school.
"These multi-million dollar technology companies collaborating with application developers are taking advantage of New Mexico children, and the unacceptable risk of data breach and access by third parties seeking to exploit and harm our children will not be tolerated in New Mexico. " he said.
The lawsuit accuses advertising companies run by Google, Twitter and three other companies, as well as the application maker Tiny Lab Productions, from violating a law designed to preserve the confidentiality of personal data of children under 13 years.
The Online Child Privacy Act adopted by Congress requires websites and online services to disclose the information they collect from children and how they use that information.
This disclosure must also be provided directly to the parents and verified consent must be given. The trial accuses the defendants of violating these federal mandates.
Google said in a statement Wednesday that applications included in his family program must comply with strict policies regarding advertisements and confidential ads age-appropriate. The company also said that these applications must comply with federal law.
The company said that she "was constantly working to improve the program".
Twitter said that Tiny Lab was suspended from its MoPub platform a year ago for violating policies on apps for kids. This privacy policy does not allow MoPub services to be used to collect information from apps intended for children under the age of 13 for personal advertising purposes.
On its website, Tiny Lab reported that the company did not violate the federal privacy laws regarding children because it asks the user's date of birth to determine his age in accordance with Federal guidelines.
If a user is under the age of 13, no personal information is collected, he says. But the lawsuit argues that this is not enough.
Technology companies are increasingly being monitored by their data practices, following a series of Facebook privacy scandals and new data privacy rules recently adopted by the Union European.
Last year, the Quartz business news site found that Google was tracking Android users by collecting nearby cell phone tower addresses, even if all location services were turned off. Google changed the practice and insisted never to save the data anyway.
Critics have said that Google's insistence to follow its users stems from its effort to increase advertising revenue. It can charge advertisers more if they want to restrict ad serving to people who have visited certain sites.
According to the lawsuit, Google was informed earlier this year by security researchers at the University of California at Berkeley that they had identified invasive technologies and practices in Tiny Lab's gaming applications.
Google responded to the researchers, claiming that the apps were not designed primarily for kids, but for families in general, so that there was no violation of federal laws on the private life.
New Mexico's attorneys said in the trial that the defendants were aware of the violations but had not taken steps to remedy the fault.
They demand civil sanctions and ask the court for a permanent injunction to prevent further violations of the laws.
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