INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit Monday that says Google is misleading Hoosiers.
Rokita said the company falsely represents how people's location data is accessed, stored, used, and monetized.
"We have to realize as Hoosiers that our property is no longer those things tangible. Our property is also our data. And as individual humans, we create all kinds of data, and it's valuable," Rokita said.
The lawsuit aims to penalize Google for violating the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and make sure that moving forward, consumers can both understand and control the information they create.
While it is too early to know if any other Google-user will get money out of this, Rokita said the goal is to make sure big companies know they cannot do what they want with our information.
"It should be up to us whether to decide if we want to give it away, sell it, or have others make money," Rokita said.
The District of Columbia, Texas and the state of Washington are also filing suits against Google.
"Whether you're Republican or Democrat, it shouldn't matter. No company or government that big should have that kind of control over us," Rokita said.
A spokesperson for Google said: "The attorneys general are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight."