The legal complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, to be filed with the FTC on Monday, alleges that Google is newly gaining access to a trove of highly sensitive information — the credit and debit card purchase records of the majority of U.S. consumers — without revealing how it got the information or giving people meaningful ways to opt out. Moreover, the group claims that the search giant is relying on a secretive technical method to protect the data — a method that should be audited by outsiders and may be vulnerable to hacks or other data breaches.
"Google is seeking to extend its dominance from the online world to the real, offline world, and the FTC really needs to look at that," said Marc Rotenberg, the organization's executive director.
Google — a subsidiary of Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet Inc. — called its advertising approach "common" and said it had "invested in building a new, custom encryption technology that ensures users' data remains private, secure and anonymous."
"Google is seeking to extend its dominance from the online world to the real, offline world, and the FTC really needs to look at that," said Marc Rotenberg, the organization's executive director.
Google — a subsidiary of Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet Inc. — called its advertising approach "common" and said it had "invested in building a new, custom encryption technology that ensures users' data remains private, secure and anonymous."