WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – The Google search engine is collecting data on users who believe they can be anonymous if they use a “private browsing” mode, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed Thursday, filing a amended privacy lawsuit against the Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O) unit.
Texas, Indiana, the state of Washington and the District of Columbia filed separate lawsuits against Google in state courts in January for what they called deceptive location-tracking practices that violate user privacy.
Paxton’s filing adds Google’s incognito mode to the lawsuit filed in January. Incognito mode or “private browsing” is a web browser feature that, according to Paxton, implies that Google does not track search history or location activity.
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According to the lawsuit, Google offers the option of “private browsing,” which includes “viewing highly personal websites that may reveal, for example, their medical history, political affiliation, or sexual orientation.” Or maybe they just want to buy a surprise gift without the gift recipient being tipped off by a barrage of targeted ads.”
The indictment reads: “In reality, Google fraudulently collects a range of personal data even when a user has activated incognito mode.”
Google said Thursday that Paxton’s submission is again “based on inaccurate claims and outdated claims about our institutions. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data.”
“We strongly dispute these claims and will vigorously defend ourselves to set the record straight,” it added.
Paxton previously claimed that Google was misleading consumers by continuing to track their location, even when users tried to prevent it.
Google has a “Location History” setting and informs users if they turn it off “The places you go are no longer saved,” Texas said.
In January, an Arizona judge ruled that Google cheated users with unclear smartphone location tracking settings.
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Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio and Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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