The lawsuit, filed against Google by Arizona’s Attorney General, alleges that the tech giant uses “deceptive and unfair conduct” to obtain users’ location data.

Google has been hit by a lawsuit alleging that it violates user privacy by collecting location data via various means – and claiming that Google makes it nearly “impossible” for users to opt out of such data tracking.

The lawsuit, filed by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, alleges that Google uses “deceptive and unfair conduct” to obtain Android users’ location data via various applications, services and technologies, which is then used for advertising purposes. The alleged data collection would violate the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, a set of laws that give protections to consumers in various transactions related to the sale or advertisement of merchandise.

“Google has engaged in these deceptive and unfair acts and practices with the purpose of enhancing its ability to collect and profit from user-location information,” according to the 50-page complaint, which was filed Wednesday in the Maricopa County Superior Court. “And profited it has, to the tune of over $134 billion in advertising revenue in 2019 alone. On information and belief, hundreds of millions of dollars of these advertising revenues were generated from ads presented to millions of users in the State of Arizona.”

Public consternation around Google’s data-collection policies was first set off by a 2018 Associated Press report, which claimed that Google services that are prevalent on both Android and iOS phones all store location data. The report alleged that Google would track users’ data even when they opt out of Google’s Location History feature, which collects data in order to personalize Google Maps.

This most recent lawsuit claims that Google’s alleged deceptive tactics extend beyond the issues with Location History highlighted by AP’s report. The redacted, public complaint claims that Google uses other means to bring in location data – including via Wi-Fi scanning and connectivity, diagnostic data and information from Google apps in “recent versions of Android.” This makes it impractical – and even impossible – for users to opt out of location tracking, the lawsuit alleges.

“Given the lucrative nature of Google’s advertising business, the company goes to great lengths to collect users’ location, including through presenting users with a misleading mess of settings, some of which seemingly have nothing to do with the collection of location information,” said the lawsuit.

According to Brnovich, these claims are based on both testimony from Google employees “given under oath” and from internal documents that were obtained from Google over the course of a nearly two-year investigation.

Google, for its part, argued against the claims and told Threatpost that it looks forward “to setting the record straight.”

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