Coronavirus location data another thing for the government’s Google to-do list

The government should take action to safeguard location data collected by Google’s Android operating system. Picture: AAP

Now the federal government is standing up to Google it should also consider how the platform giant could use the new COVID-19 tracking apps to increase the location data Android phones are collecting.

Google owns the Android phone operating system, which accounts for around 55 per cent of mobile phone handsets in Australia.

The new virus apps aimed at telling you when you have come into contact with someone infected with COVID-19 will potentially feed into Google’s own location data collection.

The ACCC has taken legal action against Google over location devices, alleging false and misleading behaviour because it didn’t disclose how to turn off the location devices.

The case is due to go to court later this year but given the delays, it would help if the government simply issued a direction to Google telling it not to use the location services when its COVID-19 apps are rolled out.

The government’s move to direct the ACCC to move towards a formal code of conduct between Google, Facebook and the media companies is a welcome development.

But past behaviour indicates it is not necessarily the final step in forcing the digital platforms to pay for the content they use.

Back in 2014, when Spain imposed a levy on Google, it simply shot down the links, closing Google Media.

The French government is chasing Google via an abuse of copyright legal action. The support of governments is welcome but its just the first step in a long battle.

This is shown by the fact the government’s own apps are helping boost Google’s data collection powers while they keep a track on COVID-19.

ACCC boss Rod Sims argues the Australian code of conduct is aimed at a much wider net than Spain and would be more difficult to avoid.

He says between 8 and 14 per cent of Google searches were news related so media content was a very valuable resource for the company.

The ACCC is due to have a draft of the code of conduct out in July.

In September it will publish a wider paper looking at just how the digital platforms operate.

The ACCC study on adtech, the technology behind Google and Facebook’s advertising algorithms, will be published next year with a draft due in December.

But the ACCC is not involved with government plans to release an app to trace COVID-19 movements.

While the government said it would collect all the data, the argument is if it is on an android phone then Google gets it in any case.

That is harder for the government to police.

Opinion is divided on whether people care if Google and Facebook know where they are, with some people not caring and others very concerned.

The issue of stealing media content is a different matter, altogether because it is using material the platforms don’t own.