European regulators imposed a major sanction on Google over users' location information with a penalty of €403 million ($459 million). Google has six months to make its location-data practices compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Here's what to know
Since Google's European headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland's Data Protection Commission acts as the company's lead EU regulator. The fine was issued after a lengthy review of Google's location information process.
The GDPR is intended to require clear consent, fair processing, and limits on data retention. The inquiry, as Engadget reported, opened in 2020 and examined Google's practices from May 2018 to February 2020.
There were issues with location accuracy, which can identify an Android device more precisely than GPS; location history, an opt-in log of places a user has been; and web and app activity, which records activity across Google services.
For location accuracy, the DPC said Google had not shown that it met the GDPR's "lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle." Separately, the regulator found that Google's handling of location data through web and app activity and location history was not lawful or fair, Engadget noted.
More background
Location data is among the most sensitive personal information a company can collect, with the ability to reveal where people live and work; where they shop; and which doctors, schools, or religious institutions they visit.
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Google failed in a final appeal of the bloc's 2018 $4.7 billion Android antitrust fine and was issued a $1 billion penalty by the European Commission after it found the company favored its own services in search results.
The DPC said it had "three other ongoing statutory large-scale inquiries open that concern Google, all of which are at an advanced stage," according to Engadget.
What's being done?
Google has six months to bring its location-data processing in line with GDPR regulations. That means the company will need to address how it explains data collection, how long it keeps that information, and whether users are given a fair choice.
Even when a tool includes an opt-in feature, regulators can still determine that surrounding disclosures were inadequate.
"This case centers around historical policies that have since been updated," Google said in a statement, per the Associated Press, as Engadget stated. "From 2019 onwards, we've significantly evolved our practices and launched robust tools that make managing location data simple."
Where can I learn more?
Google's latest EU penalty comes with a wave of new scrutiny.
• In Malaysia, officials imposed stringent regulations for a Google data center.
• In Uruguay, Google faced backlash over environmental concerns tied to a planned new data center.
• In Virginia, officials moved toward legal action over water use at a Google data center.
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