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This is Google we're talking about. I'm sure they've run the numbers and come to the conclusion that a lawsuit and a fine costs less than the amount of money th

• shadowgovt 6y ago
  Honestly, I doubt they've run any numbers on this because I think this lawsuit hasn't occurred to Google. Web & App Activity tracking collects data on usage of apps and browsing and sends them to the Android project (for improving the OS). Firebase is a framework and service for third parties to build tracking like that into their individual products, and it has an entirely separate history from W&AA tracking. It happens to be owned by Google (as of recently), but the data isn't in the same hoppers as the Android hoppers and Google can't see it (it's part of the Cloud offering; Google offers the service and stores the data, but aggregating or using the data itself would be a violation of their agreements with Firebase customers). Firebase and W&AA tracking are two different subsystems owned and maintained by two different departments at Google (in fact, hypothetically, they could build W&AA tracking as a client project on top of Firebase, if they hadn't already built it). Firebase was an acquisition; when the W&AA tracking feature was added, Firebase wasn't even part of Google. This is a lawyer recognizing that an acquisition has created a novel arrangement that could be interpreted as suspicious.
• suifbwish 6y ago
  Does it matter if anyone is surprised? If the courts rule they are in the wrong, they could be fined for each violation which would be billions of dollars.