6 ms·

Google faces $5B lawsuit in U.S. for tracking 'private' internet use (2020)

82 points by elorant 6y ago

mh- 6y ago
(2020)
asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
This discussion has been done to death here, but I think the most salient point is that the tracking is hardly covert when private mode says, right on the tin: Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider I buy that some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website. But if ignorance is allowed to create liability as would be required for this case . . . I don't know what that means for companies offering products that interact mostly at arms length with one another. Possibly Google will still lose this lawsuit. We'll see. I kinda doubt it.
- ragona 6y ago
  I found myself nodding along with your comment, having worked in a massive company myself. A company the size of Google is simply not a single entity, so it isn’t surprising for one division to make a “private mode” that another division doesn’t respect. But isn’t that an awfully big loophole for the corporate leadership? “Well, we’re doing so many things that our left hand can’t possibly know what the right hand is doing.” When really, the teams themselves know exactly what the score is, even if they didn’t hear it from the CEO. It’s plausible deniability by being too big to understand. And it isn’t unreasonable for a consumer to believe that when “Google” offers them a private mode that Google products might become more private in some way.
  - akersten 6y ago
    > make a “private mode” that another division doesn’t respect. It is not a "private mode," it is a "don't save browser history to my local machine, and that's it." It clearly says that when one opens it. Incognito mode does not indicate to websites that the client is supposed to "not be tracked" or whatever these plaintiffs want. That would in fact allow for even more tracking and user-hostile ("please visit this website not in incognito mode") behavior.
    - jodrellblank 6y ago
      It is that, but it's not called that. It's called incognito mode. "With one's identity disguised or concealed". With the icon of a spy in trenchcoat and hat and shades. Going out into the world incognito does not imply "everyone knows who I am as usual, I just don't keep a diary entry of where I go", it implies some attempt to disguise and hide and obscure. FireFox's "Private Browsing" mode is similarly misnamed. "Private" does not imply: everyone knows what I'm doing, except my personal diary log has no record of it. Private implies other people don't know. Would it not be a bit daft for Ford to release a "silent car" when all it means is a loud V8 engine but they give you a pair of earplugs so that you can't hear it?
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
        To me, incognito means, "I'm out in the world, and possibly identifiable, but I am not broadcasting as much information about myself as I typically would." For example, I'm not sending my typical logged in cookies. That's exactly what I expect incognito mode to do and, I believe, exactly what it does. If I'm out in the world incognito, that doesn't mean I can't possibly be identified. A close look at my face might still let someone figure out who I am, despite my Dick Tracy hat. It just means I'm putting in some effort not to allow my identity to be known. This seems like a great metaphor for what incognito mode does.
- varsketiz 6y ago
  > some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website Well... I'd say that Google isn't doing too much to put separation in between. When I write in "google" in Chrome, those suggestions that come up... Are they from Chrome or from Google the website?
  - joshuamorton 6y ago
    They're from Google the website. You can change the default search provider, which changes those autosuggestions.
- the_local_host 6y ago
  > I buy that some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website. But if ignorance is allowed... When you "log into Chrome" with a Google account, is it really ignorant to assume that the scope of the settings in Chrome is the same scope as the Google account? I mean it's wrong, but it's wrong because Google is deliberately blurring distinctions and undermining common-sense assumptions.
  - granzymes 6y ago
    As discussed 11 months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967), yes it is user ignorance. " You've gone incognito Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Learn more... Chrome won't save the following information: Your browsing history Cookies and site data Information entered in forms Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider "
  - granzymes 6y ago
    As discussed 11 months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967), yes it is user ignorance. As asdfasgasdgasdg says, that's not a pejorative, it's just a fact. Incognito is very clear about what it is doing: " You've gone incognito Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Learn more... Chrome won't save the following information: Your browsing history Cookies and site data Information entered in forms Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider "
    - the_local_host 6y ago
      The subject matter here isn't "Websites you visit" in general, it's specifically Google, and whether the settings in Chrome (where users authenticate using Google accounts) should apply across their services.
- jcranmer 6y ago
  > But if ignorance is allowed to create liability as would be required for this case . . . I don't know what that means for companies offering products that interact mostly at arms length with one another. There are two separate but related things to consider here. First, for legal purposes, is there actually a difference between the two entities involved? The easiest way to do this is to actually have two different corporations, but it's possible there are ways to effect this without separate incorporation. If that's true, then the second question to ask is whether or not one entity is an "alter-ego" of the other. When that is true, then legally one becomes tied to the actions of the other (e.g., recovering money during bankruptcies, liability in defamation suits, etc.). I don't know what Google's situation is, but the fact that there is consumer confusion makes me think that the claim of alter-ego would survive summary judgement and progress to discovery to determine if it's true or not. If you want to avoid this situation, your best bet is to ensure that you have really good firewalls between the arm's-length products, including separate legal incorporation, and you don't try to blend the products together (at which point they're not really arm's-length, are they?).
- websites420 6y ago
  Google gathers data through Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager. Those are not websites you visit, nor are they the user’s employer, school, or Internet Service Provider. Moreover, it is not the case that the user’s web behavior “might” be visible to these services. They are. Google lied by omission. They could have easily put “right there on the tin” that they were using these products to track users, but they didn’t. That was deliberate. This sleight of hand is par for the course for Google, et al. “We don’t sell your private information” is the answer to the concern about private tracking, obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. They know what they’re doing. Letting them get away from it would be like letting cigarette companies put a label on their product that says “this product has not been proven to cause Alzheimer’s.”
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
    > obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. I don't think this is accurate. I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated, and that it is a genuine attempt to address these concerned that Google and other sites are responding to when they say they don't sell private information. Certainly the laws that politicians are crafting (e.g. GDPR and the California privacy law) center the privacy interpretation of people's concerns. If most people were more concerned about behavioral tracking and targeting, I believe that politicians would be passing laws to ban that instead. I agree that for many commenters on this site, the concern has morphed into a concern about behavioral tracking, but my recollection is that this has not always been the case. I don't think Google intends to address that concern with its statements about not selling private information. But, to address the behavioral tracking concern, Google does have a setting that disables ad personalization: https://adssettings.google.com/ https://adssettings.google.com/.
    - websites420 6y ago
      > I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated. People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. Google certainly hasn’t done anything to make it easier to understand behavioral ad targeting, probably because they didn’t want to be in this business to start with (they only moved into it during the dot com crash when they were pressured to get a business model together) and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. On several levels, Google benefits directly from hiding their real business model from the users whose behavioral information surplus they exploit. Just because people have been slow to catch on doesn’t mean their Incognito disclosure isn’t inaccurate and downright misleading. Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles. Until the entire data collection process is opt-in, they’re exploiting user ignorance.
gundmc 6y ago
Is this that same dubious Incognito Mode lawsuit from the other year? Yep, old news article as well.
- maxqin1 6y ago
  Do you think it was astro-turfed to the front page? Or does HN get that giddy about Google controversy that they'll upvoted without reading?
  - granzymes 6y ago
    Only 35 points. I don’t think there’s any need for astroturfing allegations.
    - maxqin1 6y ago
      True, but would a smart manipulator risk doing anymore than what it takes to push this to the #2 spot? (current rank at the time of this comment)
      - granzymes 6y ago
        I don’t think there’s any need for astroturfing allegations given the low vote count and the fact that HN is predisposed to this type of article headline.
        maxqin1 6y ago
        I agree, my actual point was to point out the clear dislike of Google here. I only used to astroturfing comment as a mode of comparison, not to actually suggest it was the reason. But I agree, astroturfing allegations are not productive.
    - dang 6y ago
      Please don't post unsubstantive provocations here.
lorec0re 6y ago
June 2020 article, seriously?
- brutal_chaos_ 6y ago
  Old articles are allowed. They should be titled with the year though.
gsich 6y ago
Maybe they should call it "no history" or "temporary" mode.

82 points by elorant 6y ago

mh- 6y ago

(2020)

This discussion has been done to death here, but I think the most salient point is that the tracking is hardly covert when private mode says, right on the tin: Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider I buy that some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website. But if ignorance is allowed to create liability as would be required for this case . . . I don't know what that means for companies offering products that interact mostly at arms length with one another. Possibly Google will still lose this lawsuit. We'll see. I kinda doubt it.

ragona 6y ago
I found myself nodding along with your comment, having worked in a massive company myself. A company the size of Google is simply not a single entity, so it isn’t surprising for one division to make a “private mode” that another division doesn’t respect. But isn’t that an awfully big loophole for the corporate leadership? “Well, we’re doing so many things that our left hand can’t possibly know what the right hand is doing.” When really, the teams themselves know exactly what the score is, even if they didn’t hear it from the CEO. It’s plausible deniability by being too big to understand. And it isn’t unreasonable for a consumer to believe that when “Google” offers them a private mode that Google products might become more private in some way.
- akersten 6y ago
  > make a “private mode” that another division doesn’t respect. It is not a "private mode," it is a "don't save browser history to my local machine, and that's it." It clearly says that when one opens it. Incognito mode does not indicate to websites that the client is supposed to "not be tracked" or whatever these plaintiffs want. That would in fact allow for even more tracking and user-hostile ("please visit this website not in incognito mode") behavior.
  - jodrellblank 6y ago
    It is that, but it's not called that. It's called incognito mode. "With one's identity disguised or concealed". With the icon of a spy in trenchcoat and hat and shades. Going out into the world incognito does not imply "everyone knows who I am as usual, I just don't keep a diary entry of where I go", it implies some attempt to disguise and hide and obscure. FireFox's "Private Browsing" mode is similarly misnamed. "Private" does not imply: everyone knows what I'm doing, except my personal diary log has no record of it. Private implies other people don't know. Would it not be a bit daft for Ford to release a "silent car" when all it means is a loud V8 engine but they give you a pair of earplugs so that you can't hear it?
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
      To me, incognito means, "I'm out in the world, and possibly identifiable, but I am not broadcasting as much information about myself as I typically would." For example, I'm not sending my typical logged in cookies. That's exactly what I expect incognito mode to do and, I believe, exactly what it does. If I'm out in the world incognito, that doesn't mean I can't possibly be identified. A close look at my face might still let someone figure out who I am, despite my Dick Tracy hat. It just means I'm putting in some effort not to allow my identity to be known. This seems like a great metaphor for what incognito mode does.
varsketiz 6y ago
> some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website Well... I'd say that Google isn't doing too much to put separation in between. When I write in "google" in Chrome, those suggestions that come up... Are they from Chrome or from Google the website?
- joshuamorton 6y ago
  They're from Google the website. You can change the default search provider, which changes those autosuggestions.
the_local_host 6y ago
> I buy that some consumers don't understand the separation between Chrome the browser and Google the website. But if ignorance is allowed... When you "log into Chrome" with a Google account, is it really ignorant to assume that the scope of the settings in Chrome is the same scope as the Google account? I mean it's wrong, but it's wrong because Google is deliberately blurring distinctions and undermining common-sense assumptions.
- granzymes 6y ago
  As discussed 11 months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967), yes it is user ignorance. " You've gone incognito Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Learn more... Chrome won't save the following information: Your browsing history Cookies and site data Information entered in forms Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider "
- granzymes 6y ago
  As discussed 11 months ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967), yes it is user ignorance. As asdfasgasdgasdg says, that's not a pejorative, it's just a fact. Incognito is very clear about what it is doing: " You've gone incognito Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Learn more... Chrome won't save the following information: Your browsing history Cookies and site data Information entered in forms Your activity might still be visible to: Websites you visit Your employer or school Your internet service provider "
  - the_local_host 6y ago
    The subject matter here isn't "Websites you visit" in general, it's specifically Google, and whether the settings in Chrome (where users authenticate using Google accounts) should apply across their services.
jcranmer 6y ago
> But if ignorance is allowed to create liability as would be required for this case . . . I don't know what that means for companies offering products that interact mostly at arms length with one another. There are two separate but related things to consider here. First, for legal purposes, is there actually a difference between the two entities involved? The easiest way to do this is to actually have two different corporations, but it's possible there are ways to effect this without separate incorporation. If that's true, then the second question to ask is whether or not one entity is an "alter-ego" of the other. When that is true, then legally one becomes tied to the actions of the other (e.g., recovering money during bankruptcies, liability in defamation suits, etc.). I don't know what Google's situation is, but the fact that there is consumer confusion makes me think that the claim of alter-ego would survive summary judgement and progress to discovery to determine if it's true or not. If you want to avoid this situation, your best bet is to ensure that you have really good firewalls between the arm's-length products, including separate legal incorporation, and you don't try to blend the products together (at which point they're not really arm's-length, are they?).
websites420 6y ago
Google gathers data through Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager. Those are not websites you visit, nor are they the user’s employer, school, or Internet Service Provider. Moreover, it is not the case that the user’s web behavior “might” be visible to these services. They are. Google lied by omission. They could have easily put “right there on the tin” that they were using these products to track users, but they didn’t. That was deliberate. This sleight of hand is par for the course for Google, et al. “We don’t sell your private information” is the answer to the concern about private tracking, obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. They know what they’re doing. Letting them get away from it would be like letting cigarette companies put a label on their product that says “this product has not been proven to cause Alzheimer’s.”
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  > obfuscating the real concern of targeted behavioral advertising behind an altogether different one. I don't think this is accurate. I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated, and that it is a genuine attempt to address these concerned that Google and other sites are responding to when they say they don't sell private information. Certainly the laws that politicians are crafting (e.g. GDPR and the California privacy law) center the privacy interpretation of people's concerns. If most people were more concerned about behavioral tracking and targeting, I believe that politicians would be passing laws to ban that instead. I agree that for many commenters on this site, the concern has morphed into a concern about behavioral tracking, but my recollection is that this has not always been the case. I don't think Google intends to address that concern with its statements about not selling private information. But, to address the behavioral tracking concern, Google does have a setting that disables ad personalization: https://adssettings.google.com/ https://adssettings.google.com/.
  - websites420 6y ago
    > I think for a lot of people the privacy issue really is about concern that their behavioral information would be sold and disseminated. People are only concerned about the things they can easily conceptualize. Google certainly hasn’t done anything to make it easier to understand behavioral ad targeting, probably because they didn’t want to be in this business to start with (they only moved into it during the dot com crash when they were pressured to get a business model together) and because they maintain relationships with intelligence agencies, allowing those groups to collect information they wouldn’t be able to get legally. On several levels, Google benefits directly from hiding their real business model from the users whose behavioral information surplus they exploit. Just because people have been slow to catch on doesn’t mean their Incognito disclosure isn’t inaccurate and downright misleading. Google doesn’t get points for hiding opt-out behind the labyrinthine settings toggles. Until the entire data collection process is opt-in, they’re exploiting user ignorance.

gundmc 6y ago

Is this that same dubious Incognito Mode lawsuit from the other year? Yep, old news article as well.

maxqin1 6y ago
Do you think it was astro-turfed to the front page? Or does HN get that giddy about Google controversy that they'll upvoted without reading?
- granzymes 6y ago
  Only 35 points. I don’t think there’s any need for astroturfing allegations.
  - maxqin1 6y ago
    True, but would a smart manipulator risk doing anymore than what it takes to push this to the #2 spot? (current rank at the time of this comment)
    - granzymes 6y ago
      I don’t think there’s any need for astroturfing allegations given the low vote count and the fact that HN is predisposed to this type of article headline.
      - maxqin1 6y ago
        I agree, my actual point was to point out the clear dislike of Google here. I only used to astroturfing comment as a mode of comparison, not to actually suggest it was the reason. But I agree, astroturfing allegations are not productive.
  - dang 6y ago
    Please don't post unsubstantive provocations here.

lorec0re 6y ago

June 2020 article, seriously?

brutal_chaos_ 6y ago
Old articles are allowed. They should be titled with the year though.

gsich 6y ago

Maybe they should call it "no history" or "temporary" mode.