Google in $5bn lawsuit for tracking in 'private' mode

[williamcll]

I thought incognito mode is only made for people needs to browse nothing if you get what I mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[732]

39 minutes ago, williamcll said:

I thought incognito mode is only made for people needs to browse nothing if you get what I mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

That's mainly what regular people use it for, yes

[steelo]

1 hour ago, wanderingfool2 said:

The McDonald's one isn't as cut and dry as it is made out to be.  They served the coffee at 88C, which causes 3rd degree burns in less than 3 seconds...you expect coffee to be hot, but McDonalds was providing them at a temperature that no other company was serving them at (She had 16% burn on her skin, and 6% of it being 3rd degree burns).  Other places it would take at least 20 seconds...ontop of them already paying out $500,000 in settlements with 700 people who had scalded themselves as well.  It is also that McDonald created a situation where people could get severely injured.

 

Google says it won't be saved; different from blocking

 

Honestly, I don't see this going anywhere (remember the days before private/incognito modes in browsers).  There are so many other ways companies can decide to track you, and honestly if they were blocked or punished for tracking, how many sites would no longer exist (or resort to the old days of super sketchy ads to make up for not tracking users)

It will be interesting to see...I have little sympathy for companies like Google, Apple, etc who steal personal data for profit.

[wanderingfool2]

35 minutes ago, steelo said:

It will be interesting to see...I have little sympathy for companies like Google, Apple, etc who steal personal data for profit.

To be clear, they are not stealing personal data.

 

Using user data to build profiles and use it for profits has been around for ages.  Google, and other search engines are as good as they are because of that supposed "stolen" data.  I would conjecture that the modern internet (and advancements) are the way they are due to the data collected.  Credit cards comes to mind, where they track purchases and come up with a profile and spending habits (or what about your credit scores).  Almost all industries have some form of tracking, it is all about what that data gets used for.

 

The other thought, would you be willing to pay for services like gmail, google, news articles, forums? (Or have to put up with sketchy ads/less accurate search results).  I remember before when you essentially had to use your ISP email or pay for the service...then free emails started taking over, and everyone jumped on (free with data being used, in my opinion is better for most than paid and no data used...that is just an opinion though, and I do understand people have different thoughts on it)

[steelo]

44 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

To be clear, they are not stealing personal data.

 

Using user data to build profiles and use it for profits has been around for ages.  Google, and other search engines are as good as they are because of that supposed "stolen" data.  I would conjecture that the modern internet (and advancements) are the way they are due to the data collected.  Credit cards comes to mind, where they track purchases and come up with a profile and spending habits (or what about your credit scores).  Almost all industries have some form of tracking, it is all about what that data gets used for.

 

The other thought, would you be willing to pay for services like gmail, google, news articles, forums? (Or have to put up with sketchy ads/less accurate search results).  I remember before when you essentially had to use your ISP email or pay for the service...then free emails started taking over, and everyone jumped on (free with data being used, in my opinion is better for most than paid and no data used...that is just an opinion though, and I do understand people have different thoughts on it)

It really depends on your definition of 'steal'.I work as an IT professional in the healthcare industry, so I may look at a persons personal data differently than you or anyone else...and I could be totally wrong.

 

I suppose I could have used a better word than 'steal'. Yes, companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc have been taking data from users unknowingly for years. I'm sure it would blow peoples minds if they knew the information they have on them...Sadly, they usually only disclose what information they 'borrow' after they get caught and are forced to release a disclosure.

[Lurick]

1 hour ago, steelo said:

It will be interesting to see...I have little sympathy for companies like Google, Apple, etc who steal personal data for profit.

What annoys me about this is it's always "big tech = bad" and nobody seems to bat an eye when it's done with any other industry such as the telecom, adtech, etc. and sometimes with far worse and more outrageous offenses.

 

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200528/10215944595/arizona-ag-sues-google-location-data-failures-after-telecom-got-wrist-slap-far-worse-behavior.shtml

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/panvkz/stalkers-debt-collectors-bounty-hunters-impersonate-cops-phone-location-data

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200227/13214143995/fcc-to-dole-out-some-dainty-wrist-slaps-wireless-carrier-location-data-scandals.shtml

 

[steelo]

16 minutes ago, Lurick said:

What annoys me about this is it's always "big tech = bad" and nobody seems to bat an eye when it's done with any other industry such as the telecom, adtech, etc. and sometimes with far worse and more outrageous offenses.

 

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200528/10215944595/arizona-ag-sues-google-location-data-failures-after-telecom-got-wrist-slap-far-worse-behavior.shtml

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/panvkz/stalkers-debt-collectors-bounty-hunters-impersonate-cops-phone-location-data

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200227/13214143995/fcc-to-dole-out-some-dainty-wrist-slaps-wireless-carrier-location-data-scandals.shtml

 

Look at all of the data breaches and questionable privacy practices regarding Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google over the past few years. As 9/10 people probably own a smart phone or a smart device, they inevitably are the first to take blame.

[wanderingfool2]

48 minutes ago, steelo said:

Look at all of the data breaches and questionable privacy practices regarding Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google over the past few years. As 9/10 people probably own a smart phone or a smart device, they inevitably are the first to take blame.

I personally believe it is blown out of proportion (One reason being they are larger companies that get a lot more scrutiny).  In terms of data breaches, and privacy practices, there are lots of other companies and industries that do the exact same thing.  Look at Equifax and their breach.

 

I personally don't think the case will go very far though

[Zodiark1593]

5 hours ago, Ashley said:

google can't block all cookies or all tracking in incognito mode because that depends on what third party sites you browse. this is a pointless lawsuit. if you wanna be privvate you need to use Tor and a VPN and even that isn't perfect and can be tracked still. 

Public wifi with a spoofed MAC Address?

[steelo]

37 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

I personally believe it is blown out of proportion (One reason being they are larger companies that get a lot more scrutiny).  In terms of data breaches, and privacy practices, there are lots of other companies and industries that do the exact same thing.  Look at Equifax and their breach.

 

I personally don't think the case will go very far though

It shouldn't but it really depends on the attorneys involved and the judges opinion of these companies...personal bias has a lot to do with it.

[Ashleyyyy]

3 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Public wifi with a spoofed MAC Address?

nearly all public places have security camera's, you can still be tracked. 

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

nearly all public places have security camera's, you can still be tracked. 

Perhaps, though keeping any vehicles far away, use of face coverings, and using a decent adapter and high gain antenna(for range) can make things quite difficult. Even then, one would have to prove a specific MAC address belongs to you, which can be complicated by the presence of multiple people (think coffee shop near colleges) and aforementioned MAC spoofing. (The MAC spoofing is used under the presumption that one will probably be seen on camera). 
 

Coupled with VPNs and Tor, there are a lot of hurdles to work through to determine your identity. Don’t think anyone would go through the trouble unless you’ve got the attention of the FBI. At the very least, I’d imagine a civil litigator would be dissuaded at the prospect of having to send subpoenas to everyone that attended a certain coffee shop within a given time frame, and possibly nearby businesses for any vehicle that traveled remotely close. 

[mr moose]

10 hours ago, Lurick said:

Ugh, I'm so sick of hearing this.

The person got third degree burns over 10% of their body because the coffee was FAR too hot and McDonalds KNEW about the issue from numerous complaints dating back a years and chose to ignore the risk. The woman only wanted them to cover medical bills and nothing more. McDonalds refused so she then sued them. They kept the coffee at 180 to 190 degrees or hotter because they didn't want people to take advantage of free refills.

this is one of the most accurate commentary on the case.  Using the interviews from the jurors shows that she should have lost but it was because McDonald's didn't show any care for liebeck that they lost.    It is indeed a frivolous case as most coffees from that time were sold at that temperature.

 

Unfortunately when you google it now majority of the results are "facts" presented by lawyers who want everyone to believe they can win these types of cases.  Trying to get honest information regarding the entirety of the case and the law it hinges on is hard.