Indiana sues Google over deceptive practices in harvesting Hoosiers’ location data
Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit alleging that Google has misled consumers by falsely representing the extent to which users may control how their location data is accessed, stored, used, and monetized by Google.
“Protecting Hoosiers from Big Tech’s deceptive and unfair practices continues to be a major focal point of my administration,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Consumers tend to believe the promises that companies make to them, and I’m here to hold businesses accountable when they unlawfully betray consumers’ trust.”
AG Rokita’s lawsuit aims to penalize Google for violations of the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and to ensure that going forward consumers can both understand and control the ways in which their personal data is obtained and used. The bipartisan effort is a collaboration with the Attorneys General of the District of Columbia, Texas and the state of Washington — all of whom are also filing lawsuits against Google over their handling of location data.
From at least 2014 through the present, Google has falsely indicated that consumers can protect their privacy through settings supposedly enabling them to stop Google from tracking and using their locations. In reality, however, there is effectively no way for consumers to prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location data.
Although Google is known for a variety of products and services, most of its revenues come from targeted advertising and advertising analytics. To support this lucrative arm of its business, Google harvests consumers’ personal data in order to pitch them products based on their predicted interests. Google also uses such data to evaluate the effectiveness of its targeted ads in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions.
The company’s deceptive practices became widely known following a 2018 story by the Associated Press. After that story, multiple states began investigating Google’s location tracking practices. The States’ investigation revealed that Google purports to offer consumers customizable controls enabling them to choose the data Google collects and uses. But Google’s ambiguous, contradictory, and incomplete statements about these controls have all but guaranteed that consumers would not understand when their location is retained by Google or for what purposes.
Even a limited amount of location data, aggregated over time, can expose a person’s identity and routines. Location can be used to infer sensitive personal details, such as political or religious affiliation, income, health status or participation in support groups — as well as major life events such as marriage, divorce, and the birth of children.
IUWBB game against Illinois postponed
Due to COVID-19 protocols within the Illinois Women’s Basketball program, Thursday’s game (Jan. 27) between Illinois and Indiana, at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, has been postponed. The game will likely be rescheduled later in the season.
Community Health Network Partners with Ivy Tech to House Expanding Medical Assistant Education
Ivy Tech Community College is bringing its medical assistant education offerings to Hamilton County through a partnership with Community Health Network that provides space in the Community Health Pavilion in Noblesville. The medical assistant program prepares students to work in the ambulatory care setting and focuses on patient care, venipuncture, electrocardiograms, vital signs, injections, electronic medical records and medical coding. Students that successfully complete the Ivy Tech program are eligible to sit for the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) exam through the American Association of Medical Assistants. Medical assisting can also be a springboard career for students interested in nursing, which will be offered on the Hamilton County campus beginning in 2023.
In addition to providing clinical site space for the incoming cohort, Community has provided externship opportunities for medical assistant students. Externships provide students with temporary job training and learning opportunities to experience the potential of working in a healthcare setting. The demand for medical assistants in Indiana is projected to increase 15% between now and 2029. There are currently more than 16,000 medical assistants in the state with more than 2,375 openings. Ivy Tech graduated 239 medical assistants from fall 2020 through summer 2021.
The first Hamilton County cohort of six students began class this week and is led by chairwoman Lisa Owens. Owens serves as the Medical Assisting Program Co-Chair and Director of Clinical Education at Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis.
This Week in Hoosier History
1900 – Miriam Mason Swain was born in Goshen. She was a magazine editor and teacher for a few years before moving to Batesville. There she settled into a career as a popular author of children’s books. Among her 50 titles are Smiling Hill Farm, The Gray-Nosed Kitten, and A Pony Called Lightning.
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