Google settles “Location History” lawsuit with 40 states, will pay $392M

“For years, Google prioritized profit over the privacy of people who use Google products and services. Consumers thought they had turned ‘off’ their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.”

Cool story, bro. How much of that $392M is going to consumers who were actually harmed? Likely, zero. These kinds of breaches need to be criminal not civil penalties otherwise there need to be actual claimants not just Attorney Generals looking for a pay day.

It feels like Big Tech frequently settles to avoid discovery where the public would find out what is really going on.