Data Protection Bill will end misuse of customer data: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Chandrasekhar referred to Google’s
$392-million settlement to settle allegations by 40 American states that the search and advertising giant had illegally tracked user locations.

The minister said India’s Digital Data Protection Bill would also end such practices.

“India’s #DigitalDataProtection bill will put a stop to this and ensure that any Platform/Intermediary that does this will face punitive & financial consequences,” he said.

The investigation and settlement in the US, which was led by Oregon and Nebraska, is a sign of the mounting legal headaches for the tech giant from state attorneys general, who have aggressively targeted the firm’s user-tracking practices in recent months.

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In addition to the payment, Google has to be more transparent with consumers about when location tracking is occurring and give users detailed information about location-tracking data on a special web page, the Iowa attorney general’s office said.

“When consumers make the decision to not share location data on their devices, they should be able to trust that a company will no longer track their every move,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement. “This settlement makes it clear that companies must be transparent in how they track customers and abide by state and federal privacy laws.”

Indian troubles

Google, among other Big Tech firms, has been facing the ire of the Indian government and various agencies, particularly the Competition Commission of India.

Last month, the competition watchdog
imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets with its Android mobile operating system (OS) and prescribed about a dozen measures that the company has to comply with.

The regulator said makers of devices that run on Android shouldn’t be forced to pre-install Google services on their devices. It also asked Google to provide fair access to all stakeholders.

In a second setback,
the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position through its Play Store policies. The commission also issued a cease-and-desist order in which it prescribed eight corrective measures that Google Play needs to implement to correct the anti-competitive practices.

ET also reported on November 7
that Google may receive a third blow from the antitrust regulator for alleged abuse of market dominance in the smart TV market.

The case pertains to June 2021, when the CCI had ordered a probe into alleged abuse of dominance by Google’s smart television operating system Android TV, after finding prima facie evidence. The commission was acting based on a complaint filed by lawyers of two trusts.

Television manufacturers need to enter into a licensing agreement with Google to use its platform. The terms of such licensing agreements are allegedly prohibitive for equipment manufacturers.