this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Google will pay $135 million to settle illegal data collection lawsuit (www.engadget.com)
submitted 1 day ago by tyrant@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Google has agreed to a preliminary $135 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought by Android users who accused it of harvesting their data without consent. The suit alleged that since November 12, 2017, Google has been illegally collecting cellular data from phones purchased through carriers, even when apps were closed or location features were disabled.

As reported by Reuters, the affected users believed Google using their data for marketing and product development meant it was guilty of "conversion." In US law, conversion occurs when one party takes the property of another with "the intent to deprive them of it" or "exert property rights over it."

Subject to approval from a judge, a settlement of $135 million was filed in a San Jose federal court earlier this week. The payout would be one of, if not the largest ever in a case of this nature, according to Glen Summers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

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[โ€“] Pika@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

as much as I would love this. If it ever did become a thing, what you would see wouldn't be companies taking the fine, you would see companies "off-branching" and having income be reported on a parent company that is contracted to the offending company. like in the case of alphabet, they would likely just migrate the android division to be a contractee that they have full control over that they never terminate the contract for. They no longer "own" android legally, they contract android to do their bidding. So when it ends up in court, it ends up as a "well Android did it not us" much like how Amazons third party delivery services worked when they tried to enforce unionization laws.

[โ€“] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, no argument there. But I would argue companies do that kind of thing already for various reasons (many having to do with taxes).

Overall, I don't think it's a good argument against regulation to say "let's regulate less because people will cheat". People will always cheat.