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Google Subpoenaed Over Data Privacy, Antitrust in Missouri (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Google is facing a new front in its regulatory battles after Missouri's attorney general on Monday launched a broad investigation into whether the company's business practices violate the state's consumer-protection and antitrust laws. From a report: Attorney General Josh Hawley's office said on Monday that it issued a subpoena to investigate if Google's use of information that it collects about consumers is appropriate and if the company stifles competing websites in search results. Google has largely steered clear of antitrust problems in the U.S. That's not the case in Europe, where the company faces a fine of about $2.7 billion over the display of its shopping ads.

5 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. About time by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Google and their ilk are data collectors and trackers. They are not your friend. Go Missouri!

    1. Re: About time by megamind · · Score: 1

      Missouri must want all of us to live in misery by wasting their fucking time.

  2. "Give us the information..." by tlambert · · Score: 1

    "Give us the information, so we can see if you are sharing the information with anyone!"

    Uh... yeah... we realize Missouri is "The Show Me State" and all, but if we gave you the information, then it would mean that, yes, we shared information with someone: "Those Guys In Missouri".

  3. Re:There is only one rule for the internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Not required to use Google? Try again - Google and its ad tracking network are literally everywhere, tracking you no matter whether you directly use a Google website or not.

  4. Re:There is only one rule for the internet by Okind · · Score: 1

    Google is within its rights to collect whatever it wants from traffic going through its servers.

    No, it's not. This is why, for example, the EU has privacy laws and is tightening them (the GDPR will come into effect next May).

    Nobody is required to use Google. Therefore it has no monopoly.

    Sadly, this is not true. By using (for example) Google Analytics, it's the website owner chat chooses my information to be collected, not I. I have no choice in this. At most, I can try to find websites that don't track me, but these are increasingly rare these days and not a viable choice.

    This lack of choice for information subjects is the reason that privacy laws exist: the people choosing for the privacy violations are not the people whose privacy is violated.