News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid providing privacy details. Parent comment

Re:Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid prov... by ocdtrekkie on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @06:57PM (#25653029)
My guess: In addition to the general notion that Google relies on their largely good public opinion that they are good at privacy and safety, I'm willing to bet Google may be very uncomfortable admitting their data usage on legally-sensitive products like Google Classroom, which include usage by users under 13.

Facebook is, at the end of the day, a single social network app. Google operates a lot of platforms which are fundamental to people of all ages and for various businesses who all may have legal concerns with their data abuses if they were aware of their full extent.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid prov... by nexuist on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @07:33PM (#25653347)
There is no way Google is violating COPPA. It may be collecting a lot of data from students, but I doubt they are actively violating the law (or that their legal department would let them do so at the risk of losing almost all of their cloud and educational business).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid prov... by ocdtrekkie on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @10:11PM (#25654317)
The attorney general of New Mexico believes otherwise: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/20/21145698/google-student-p... (Actually two separate ongoing cases are discussed here.)

Here's another suit from Illinois, both regarding COPPA and the Illinois BIPA: https://www.cnet.com/news/two-children-sue-google-for-allege...

There's more, mind you, but suffice to say, every school who is using the Classroom platform is going to be dealing with a lot of angry parents soon.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Google hasn’t updated its iOS apps in weeks to avoid prov... by srtjstjsj on Tuesday January 05, 2021 @07:11PM (#25653158)
That's not a reason for the company to stop releasing new versions of their apps forever.

If a company is willing to break the law and its contracts (which I severely doubt is happening) I don't think Apple's privacy label is going to scare them.

[ Parent | on HN ]