Arizona Attorney General sues Google for misleading data collection practices

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has filed a lawsuit against Google for what he describes as ‘deceptive and unfair’ methods to secure valuable personal data.

While it is hardly unusual for Google to find itself on the wrong side of right when it comes to data collection and privacy practices, registering the attention of a single Attorney General could be a worrying start. These lawyers have a tendency to swarm around an adversary, collecting support from counterparts in other states. Simply look at how easily New York Attorney General Letitia James rallied disciples in failed opposition to the T-Mobile US and Sprint mega-merger, as well as a previous antitrust case against Google.

“While Google users are led to believe they can opt-out of location tracking, the company exploits other avenues to invade personal privacy,” said Brnovich. “It’s nearly impossible to stop Google from tracking your movements without your knowledge or consent. This is contrary to the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and even the most innovative companies must operate within the law.”

The basis of this lawsuit is whether Google is acting with the rules set forth in Arizona consumer law. Brnovich details that the majority of Google’s revenues are derived from the collection of valuable personal information, though he also claims it is often done without the users’ consent or knowledge.

In 2018, the Associated Press ran an article which claimed Google was continuing to collect data even when the user explicitly removed consent. This practice seemingly carried on until the mid-2018’s and forms the basis of the case for Arizona. However, this is only the tip of the spear.

Following a two-year investigation, the Arizona Attorney General office has filed a 50-page complaint against Google in the Maricopa County Superior Court. Featuring internal documents, under-oath testimony from Google employees, as well as external opinions from academia condemning the activities.

A significant proportion of the information has been redacted and will be examined in private, thanks to confidentiality claims from Google, but the State lawyers will be pushing for more to be made public. Over the course of the next few weeks this could be a very interesting case to keep an eye on as details of the internal workings of Google are potentially exposed. Few people genuinely understand how Google works, so this could be very illuminating.

This will be an interesting case, though Brnovich will have to rally some support very quickly. The privacy advocacy organisations are remaining quiet for the moment, as are other politicians and Attorney Generals. That might change by this afternoon as our transatlantic cousins wake up but fighting the powerful Google legal department solo is unlikely to end well for Arizona’s Attorney General.

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