Google has agreed to pay nearly $392 million in a settlement with 40 states, including Connecticut and New York, over allegations that the company tracked people through their devices after location tracking had been turned off.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said some of Google’s default settings allowed the company to track users' locations without alerting them that they had an opportunity to opt-out.
“Under Connecticut law, if any company is going to track your precise location, where you are standing, where you are at any one time, then you must be given an opportunity to opt-in. And it’s not just a default opt-out. You have to affirmatively opt-in to that,” Tong said.
The investigation led by his office also found that Google continued to collect personal information even after consumers told them not to. The settlement puts an end to that and limits Google’s use and storage of certain types of location information, he said.
Connecticut’s share of the settlement is $6.5 million.
