Google Agrees to Pay RI $230,000 to Settle Claims

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin announced Monday Google has agreed to pay more than $230,000 to Rhode Island to settle claims the company misled Safari web browser users that its default settings would block Google from placing third-party advertising cookies.

Rhode Island is one of 37 states involved in the settlement. 

According to the statement from Kilmartin's office, Google is alleged to have circumvented the default settings to place cookies on Safari users’ computers without their knowledge or consent, violating consumer protection laws. 

"Google has the ability to track our online purchases and page views, allowing third parties to target content to specific consumers based on perceived interest and buying habits," Kilmartin said in a release. "Consumers should feel confident that if they 'opt out' of these types of functions, they are truly opting out and limiting their exposure to who has access to their web history."

Google has agreed to pay a total of $17 million and and to do the following to resolve these allegations, according to the statement from the AG's office: 

• Not deploy the type of code used to override a browser’s cookie blocking settings without the consumer’s consent unless it is necessary to do so in order to detect, prevent or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues;

• Not misrepresent or omit material information to consumers about how they can use any particular Google product, service, or tool to directly manage how Google serves advertisements to their browsers;