Google has agreed to pay $68m to settle class-action lawsuits alleging it secretly recorded conversations between Android phone users.
This lawsuit is centered around Google Assistant, which is a virtual assistant that can be found on most Android devices.
The plaintiffs claim that after accidentally activating the assistant, it recorded private conversations and shared the recordings with advertisers for targeted advertising.
Google Assistant will remain in the standby mode until a phrase is detected, such as “Hey Google.”
The device will record audio, and then send it to Google’s servers for processing.
Google says that the Assistant is in Standby Mode and no audio will be sent.
According to the lawsuit, sometimes an assistant activates without intention when it misinterprets background noise as its trigger phrase. This results in recording conversations that were intended to remain private.
Reports Reuters state that the proposed settlement, which was submitted Friday to a federal court in California, requires Beth Labson Freeman of US District Court approval.
Google has filed a document to settle the lawsuit. It denies any wrongdoing, and agrees with the settlement in order to avoid further litigation.
This case was brought in a collective action. Payments would then be made to eligible claimants that owned Google products as far back as May 2016.
The plaintiff’s attorney may ask for up to a third of the settlement amount, which is approximately $22,000,000, as legal fees.
This agreement comes after a similar one earlier in the year, when Apple paid $95 millions to settle claims related to Siri’s voice assistant while also denial wrongdoing.
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The post Google Accepts to Pay 68,000,000 Dollars Settlement To Its Customers After They Were Accused Of Listening To Private Conversations On Android Phones could be updated as new information becomes available.
