The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is looking into accusations against Google, levied by Oracle, that say the tech giant has been collecting one gigabyte of data per month from Android phone users to provide info about activities to advertisers.
ACCC investigating Oracle research showing Google users Android phone plan data to spy May 14, 2018
Sunrise reported that there are over 10 million Android users in Australia.
Google is under investigation after it was revealed they use 1gb of mobile data from each Android phone.
With over 10 million Android users in Australia, that’s around $500 MILLION worth of data it’s taking from users without paying! pic.twitter.com/fyOmAi14qv
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) May 13, 2018
According to The Chronicle, these accusations were brought forward by Oracle, a computer technology corporation that has been involved in a long and bitter legal battle with Google over intellectual property that Oracle claimed Google stole. Google and Oracle have been “duking it out for years.”
In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Oracle’s favour, ruling that Google did, in fact, steal intellectual property from Oracle “when it adopted Java naming protocols for Android app developers.” This came after Google, back in 2016, won the lawsuit against Oracle.
A technology consulting firm has recently reported that Google is “preparing a petition for a rehearing en banc (a full-court review) of Oracle’s recent appellate victory.”
Given this long and fraught history between the two companies, many are questioning the validity of this claim.
Wow Oracle taking a swipe at Google how unusual May 14, 2018
What Google is doing with your data May 14, 2018
The Daily Telegraph reported that some of the information Google was receiving from this data is barometric pressure readings — to know which floor of the mall a person is in — and “how often online ads have led to store visits.”
Getting the feeling that this is somewhat corporate warfare being launched against @Google from @Oracle. As a technologist, I can guarantee you that there is some points made by Oracle which are completely false and outright incorrect and misleading. May 13, 2018
