Arizona sued Google this week, alleging the big tech company engaged in deceptive and unfair business practices to obtain users’ location data for advertising purposes in order to gain a profit.

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The 50-page complaint alleges Google tracks the location of its users even if the consumer had disabled the tracker.

After a roughly two-year probe, Arizona says Google also makes it confusing and increasingly difficult for a consumer to opt-out of the tracking and information collection.

“While Google users are led to believe they can opt-out of location tracking, the company exploits other avenues to invade personal privacy,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a press release Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court, says Google violated Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act, which gives protection to consumers against fraudulent practices and sales.

“It’s nearly impossible to stop Google from tracking your movements without your knowledge or consent. This is contrary to the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and even the most innovative companies must operate within the law,” Mr. Brnovich said.

Google makes more than 80 percent of its revenue through advertising, he said. By collecting the location information and the effectiveness of click-throughs on advertisements, the tech company is able to target specific users.

The collection of user data and tracking of location is often done without the user’s consent, the lawsuit says. According to court papers, Google made more than $134 billion in advertising revenue last year.

Arizona began investigating the tech company after The Associated Press published an article in August of 2018 titled, “Google tracks your movements, like it or not.”Google’s location history service is detailed in the article, which allows users to see where they have been. But the article said despite users being told they can turn off the location history function, the information was still stored and used for ad sales.

The Arizona lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing Google from continuing its location-tracking practice.

(Excerpt from The Washington Times. Article by Alex Swoyer.)