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first published week of: 08/31/2020
Google Court Docs Raise Concerns on Geofence Warrants, Location Tracking
by Alfred Ng
Google staffers have criticized how the company explains data privacy controls, calling Google's approach a mess.
Geofence warrants are a concern among privacy advocates and lawmakers, and recently unsealed court documents show that Google engineers also have issues with the sweeping requests for location data.
On Friday, Arizona's attorney general published internal emails from Google obtained as part of an ongoing lawsuit by the state on alleged consumer fraud and location data. Google had fought to keep its internal discussions secret, saying the investigation was "improperly publicized."
On Aug. 5, a judge's order ruled that Google had to affirmatively move to seal documents, and anything the tech giant didn't take action on would be released publicly, an Arizona attorney general spokesperson said. Of the 270 documents obtained by the state attorney general's office, 33 have been made public.
The released documents show internal discussions among Google engineers and communications staff that highlighted frustrations over the company's collection of location data and the lack of meaningful controls for its billions of users.
"Location off should mean location off, not 'except for this case or that case,'" a Google engineer wrote in an email thread on Aug. 13, 2018.
Read full story at c|net…