Google has a "Location History" setting and informs users if they turn it off "the places you go are no longer stored," Texas said. Paxton previously alleged Google misled consumers by continuing to track their location even when users sought to prevent it. "We strongly dispute these claims and will vigorously defend ourselves to set the record straight," it added. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data." Google said on Thursday that Paxton's filing is again "based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings. The suit said "in reality, Google deceptively collects an array of personal data even when a user has engaged Incognito mode." Or maybe they simply want to buy a surprise gift without the gift recipient being tipped off by a barrage of targeted ads." The lawsuit said Google offers the option of "private browsing" that could include "viewing highly personal websites that might indicate, for example, their medical history, political persuasion, or sexual orientation. Incognito mode or "private browsing" is a web browser function that Paxton said implies Google will not track search history or location activity. Paxton's filing adds Google's Incognito mode to the lawsuit filed in January. Texas, Indiana, Washington State and the District of Columbia filed separate suits against Google in January in state courts over what they called deceptive location-tracking practices that invade users' privacy. It is, however, very early days when it comes to such legal cases, so don’t get your payday hopes up just yet.WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The Google search engine collects data on users who think they can be anonymous if they use a "private browsing" mode, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed on Thursday, filing an amended privacy lawsuit against the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) unit. With this likely to be well over a million users, and if you are one of them, then if successful the class action could pocket you $5,000 for your trouble and cost Google north of $5 billion (£4 billion) in damages. The proposed class-action lawsuit is seeking damages of at least $5,000 (£4,000) for each user who has browsed the internet in incognito mode since June 1, 2016. To stay completely anonymous on the internet, dark web browsers protect your identity and can still be used to reach the open web while staying protected." Could you be in line for a $5,000 payout? Many people misunderstand the term private and, without properly reading the terms and conditions, some will not realize that they are legally handing over a lot of personal data. Incognito modes tend not to record data onto the device, but this data still goes to your internet service provider, and some data goes to the website you are visiting. Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at ESET, said "private web browsing isn’t as private as you may think. It would appear to be the use of such tracking tools, and the failure to explicitly include them in that incognito message, that is at the heart of the matter here.īy continuing to collect and identify browsing data, the complaint stated, Google is in contravention of both federal and state laws on wiretapping which gives people the right to sue if private communications are intercepted. The complaint, however, stated that Google "accomplishes its surreptitious tracking," using methods such as Google Analytics, the Google Ad Manager and the Google Sign-In button for websites. Indeed, that initial message in the incognito windows does state that user activity will still be visible to the websites visited, an employer or school and the internet service provider. MORE FROM FORBES 24K Gold Plated iPhone Seller Sues Apple For $2.6 Billion By Davey Winder
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