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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956__
A lawsuit filed against Google by consumers who claimed the search engine's photo sharing and storage service violated their privacy was dismissed on Saturday by a U.S. judge who cited a lack of "concrete injuries."
U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang in Chicago granted a Google motion for summary judgment, saying the court lacked "subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs have not suffered concrete injuries."
The suit, filed in March 2016, alleged Alphabet Inc's Google violated Illinois state law by collecting and storing biometric data from people's photographs using facial recognition software without their permission through its Google Photos service.
[...] Google had argued in court documents that the plaintiffs were not entitled to money or injunctive relief because they had suffered no harm. The case is Rivera v Google, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 16-02714.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 04 2019, @09:35AM
I will argue that privacy is not a very abstract thing when the law wants your ass for some vague concept such as indecent exposure.
You are merely making the case for those who have already stated that US Law is fucked up. Privacy is poorly defined across the board, and especially poorly defined in regards to electronic communications. The corporations are using predatory practices, slipping around in that poorly defined landscape that lawmakers are clueless about. Most consumers are at least as clueless as the lawmakers.
What percentage of citizens do you think, have any idea how much private data Google has on them? I doubt that it is 5%. It's probably not half of that.
What percentage of citizens do you think knows who their doctor shares data with? Their insurance company(s)? Their employer? People are totally clueless about the various merchants, and the money back schemes they sign up for.
You make some decent arguments, but they fall apart in the face of "informed consent" clauses.
This is why I respect the EU's privacy initiatives. The major corporations are unwilling to inform the European population about their invasive monitoring of individuals, so many of them are choosing not to do business with Europeans.
I want to see similar laws passed right here in America.
One more question: Supposing that I actually CHOOSE to send some limited data to Google, because that bit of data is necessary for Google to perform some specific tasks. How many Americans are aware that, having sent that bit of data, the cookies and trackers remain? Unless you are rather tech savvy, once you open the valve, Google will continue to siphon data for as long as you generate data. Or Facefuck, or any of them.
Informed consent. I want it thrust into users faces, and I want all the internet companies to be beaten with it, daily.
Our rights are being trespassed, routinely.