DC Attorney General Karl Racine and three other attorneys general sue Google over location tracking

WASHINGTON - D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine joined three other attorneys general Monday by suing tech giant Google.

The D.C. suit asserts Google deceived users about how it profits from their location data.   

Attorneys General for the district along with Texas, Washington, and Indiana are behind separate similar lawsuits. The premise states Google ultimately misled users about how they can protect their privacy.  The legal action centers around location data, specifically tracking users’ locations.

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D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine accused Google of deceiving and manipulating consumers to gain access to their location data.  

Racine went on to say the practice makes it nearly impossible for users to stop their location from being tracked.  Three other Attorneys General made the same accusations against Google.  

Attorney General Racine says the deceptive practice has been taking place since 2014.

Google emailed a statement to Fox 5’s Tisha Lewis saying, "The Attorneys General are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight."

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Attorney General Racine said Google’s deceptive location tracking practices impact smartphone users running on the company’s Android operating system. He mentioned that the impact also extends to consumers who use Google products, including Google search and Google Maps on non-Android devices.

He's asking Google to stop the practice.