Google Judge Gets Peek at Her Court’s Role in Data-Mining Empire
- Company responds to judge ‘disturbed’ by its privacy practices
- ‘Intentionally vague’ description undercuts defense, users say
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A judge known as a sharp critic of how tech companies treat consumer privacy was “disturbed” to learn from Google last month that even the search bar on the public website for her court is feeding user information to the company.
Now comes an explanation from Google after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh demanded one: The Alphabet Inc. unit relies on its code embedded in the public web page that helps it serve up advertising targeted at visitors. The information collected on those visitors is also used to “maintain and improve Google services,” according to the company.