Google pays $68 million to settle a privacy lawsuit

The US tech giant Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that its voice-controlled assistant program recorded smartphone users without their consent or knowledge, thereby violating their privacy.

The preliminary settlement in the case was reached on Friday evening before a federal court in San José, California. It still needs to be approved by the responsible US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman, reports the news agency Reuters.

The plaintiffs accused Google of illegally recording and distributing private conversations after activating Google Assistant in order to send them targeted advertising. Similar to Apple's voice assistant Siri, Google Assistant is designed to record conversations when users say the keywords "Hey Google" or "Okay Google". The class-action lawsuit against Google from July 2019 claims that Google Assistant also recorded conversations even when users did not say these keywords or press a button to start recording. The recordings were kept by Google for training purposes, even when the company determined that no keyword had been spoken.

Google did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement. The agreement helps to "avoid significant risks, costs, and delays associated with litigation and appeal and to ensure compensation for the class members," according to court documents. The settlement applies to users who purchased or used Google Assistant since May 18, 2016.

Apple settled a similar class-action lawsuit related to the unwanted recording of Siri content at the beginning of last year by paying a fine. A US federal court in Oakland, California, approved the out-of-court settlement with a total payout of $95 million.

(akn)