Google to Pay $68m to Settle Assistant Privacy Action

Google has filed to settle class action claims that its voice assistant collected information from users without permission, for ad targeting and other purposes. The firm is offering a payment of $68m.

Google Assistant functions in a similar way to Siri and Alexa, responding to users who say 'Hey Google' or 'OK Google'. The claim was based on the assertion that the Assistant activated and recorded users' words even when users had not intended it to - known as a 'false accept'.

In the settlement, filed late Friday night in federal court in San Jose, California, Google denied wrongdoing, but said it wanted to avoid the risk, cost and uncertainty of litigation. The deal includes all those who bought Google devices or were subjected to false accepts since May 18th 2016, and is awaiting approval by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.

The search giant is more or less continually involved in privacy cases in its major markets, accused of tactics ranging from quietly changing its privacy policy, and failing to inform consumers that there was a microphone embedded in its Nest Guard home security hub, to hiring outside contractors to listen to recordings from users of its Home voice assistant, 'with the sole purpose of improving the service'.

Thanks to www.reuters.com and www.techcrunch.com for some of the above.