Google Android and Pandora Hit with Class Action Lawsuit

Google Android and Pandora Hit with Class Action Lawsuit

By Kimberly Mirando

Google’s Android smartphones might know more about you than you think, according to a class action lawsuit filed in Florida.

Not only do the Android cell phones and their applications track customers’ physical locations, but they also store and transmit everything from income to sexual orientation, the class action lawsuit says. This information is then sold to advertising companies.

The Florida Android privacy class action lawsuit is one of at least 10 cases that have cropped up around the country since a Wall Street Journal report revealed that Android phones and their applications could collect and sell users’ personal information. It is likely that all of these filings will be consolidated into a single class action lawsuit that could cover tens of millions of Android smartphone users.

“If you’re using a map application then yeah, it’s going to get your location,” said the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the Florida case. “If you’re using a map application and it’s also collecting your gender, your sexual preference and your income, users don’t think they’re consenting to that.”

The Android class action lawsuit takes aim at Google, internet radio provider and Android app make Pandora, and advertising companies AdMob and Traffic Marketplace. The class action lawsuit claims, among other things, that information from Android devices is transmitted from the phones back to Google databases and that Google and Android apps gather information about the user even when people aren’t using their phones. This information is then shared with marketing companies. Pandora is also accused of not just providing music, but of also collecting location data and other information from phones and giving it directly to third parties.

Pandora was served by a grand jury last month with a subpoena to produce documents relating to information sharing of its applications that run on the Apple and Android mobile platforms.

The Android privacy class action lawsuit alleges consumers would not have purchased Androids had they known about the alleged information collection and sale. It is seeking compensation for the price of the phones and the value of the data collected from their users, plus punitive damages.