Court to Determine Claim of Google Spying via Smartphone Violates California and Federal Laws
In effort to protect privacy rights, Plaintiffs sued Google based on claims that it’s Google Assistant feature is being used to illegally record and share user’s conversations with third party’s or sub-contractors. They argue that Google misperceives users oral words as “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” (False Accepts), which allows Google to share the verbiage with others to improve voice recognition capabilities of the Google Assistant. The plaintiffs argue that sharing this private information violates the Stored Communications Act (unauthorized use and disclosure of information), and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) (wiretapping and eavesdropping). The judge has already dismissed the CIPA claims as there are no wires to tap; however, the Stored Communication Act claims are in play.