Google says it doesn’t need your consent to track you

Google’s lawyers have argued to Brazilian authorities that the company does not need express consent from users to collect geolocation data because there are other legal grounds for doing so, such as when the data is needed to provide services. The information was obtained by The Brazilian Report through Brazil’s public records law.

Senacon, the Justice Ministry’s consumer defense department, is investigating Google for allegedly collecting geolocation data from Android and iPhone users without their consent. The investigation could ultimately result in the tech giant being fined up to BRL 12.2 million (USD 2.5 million) and having its services suspended in Brazil.

Senacon’s investigation was inspired by a 2018 Associated Press report that found Google services on Android devices and iPhones were storing user’s location data, even when they used a privacy setting that said it would prevent Google from doing so. 

In November 2022, Google agreed to a record USD 391 million settlement with a coalition of 40 U.S. state attorneys general, ending a four-year investigation for “misrepresentation” of its location tracking practices.

Android and Google services operate similarly worldwide, with the AP story stating that the privacy issue affected over two billion users. Google’s lawyers in Brazil told Senacon that the company’s policies were updated years ago and that the U.S. case “cannot be used as a paradigm in Brazil.”

In addition, Google argued that Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD), the country’s main digital privacy legislation, “also authorizes the processing of personal data, for example, for the performance of a contract, which will be the case when location data is essential for the provision of the service. In these cases, the absence of consent does not necessarily render [data] treatment unlawful or non-compliant with the LGPD.”

Google’s understanding is based on Article 7 of the LGPD, which lists...