If there’s one company that always seems to get into trouble, it’s Google. After being under multiple investigations for issues relating to its privacy policy, the California-based giant is once again facing a court trial, this time for an alleged violation of the online privacy of several students. Jim Hood, a Mississippi Attorney General who already clashed with Google several times before, claims that the company illegally violated student privacy and broke the Consumer Protection Law. The alleged privacy violation is so serious that Google could be fined up to $1 billion.
How did Google end up in such a mess? If you care about the details and/or your online privacy, make sure to keep on reading – especially if you’re a student.
The Case
It is widely known how Google handles and sells any information the company collects through its various apps. However, the reason why this case was opened to begin with is because the company crossed a line: Jim Hood accuses Google of collecting and selling delicate student information, such as email account data, browsing histories and more, to third parties. This is especially problematic because these third parties would have (or already did) use that data for bombarding the unaware students with so-called targeted ads. This means that Google breached the contract it signed back in 2015 to equip several schools in Mississippi with Google apps for educational purposes. Furthermore, if Google's data mining and marketing of student information to third parties is proven to be true, the company could be fined up to $10,000 for each student account. Knowing that around half of Mississippi’s school districts use Google’s services like Gmail, the fine could easily reach $1 billion.
As for now, Google didn’t comment the lawsuit, but it is known that the company and Hood have quite a history of other cases involving such terms as piracy and drug sales.
Student Protection
Whether this is true or not, if you’re a student in Mississippi or elsewhere, these cases definitely prove that you should consider giving VPN a try in order to avoid getting spied on. Besides, encrypting your IP address and all other personally identifiable information, Virtual Private Networks are also useful for circumventing programs blocking the access to determined websites. With this little tool in your pocket, not only you can play your favorite games on breaks between classes, but you can make sure that no one can see and track your digital footsteps.
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