"Google agreed to pay $68m to settle a lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated assistant spied inappropriately on smartphone users, violating their privacy. A preliminary class action settlement was filed late on Friday night in the San Jose, California federal court, and requires approval by US district judge Beth Labson Freeman. Smartphone users accused Google, a unit of Alphabet, of illegally recording and disseminating private conversations after Google Assistant was triggered, in order to send them targeted advertising."
"Google Assistant is designed to react when people use hot words such as Hey Google or Okay Google, similar to Apple's Siri. Users objected to receiving ads after Google Assistant misperceived what they said as hot words, known as false accepts. Google denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid the risk, cost and uncertainty of litigation, court papers show. The Mountain View, California-based company declined to comment on Monday."
Google agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class action alleging Google Assistant illegally recorded and disseminated private smartphone conversations and used snippets for targeted advertising. The preliminary settlement, filed in San Jose federal court, requires approval by US district judge Beth Labson Freeman and covers people who bought Google devices or experienced false accepts since May 18, 2016. Users say Assistant misperceived hot words like “Hey Google” or “Okay Google,” triggering recordings and subsequent ads. Google denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid litigation risk and costs. Plaintiffs’ lawyers may seek about $22.7 million in fees. Apple reached a similar $95 million settlement last year.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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