Google literally just settled for $68m about this very issue https://www.theguar...

monocularvision · 2026-02-12T18:48:13 1770922093

“Google denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid the risk, cost and uncertainty of litigation, court papers show.”

I keep seeing folks float this as some admission of wrongdoing but it is not.

caminante · 2026-02-12T19:11:33 1770923493

The payout was not pennies and this case had been around since 2019, surviving multiple dismissal attempts.

While not an "admission of wrongdoing," it points to some non-zero merit in the plaintiff's case.

HPMOR · 2026-02-13T09:42:11 1770975731

Google makes over $1bn/day. $68mm is literally an hour's worth of revenue to them - so yes pennies.

caminante · 2026-02-13T13:04:50 1770987890

Revenue != Making

And I'm delighted to be surrounded by ultra high net worth individuals here on HN where $68 million is "pennies."

anigbrowl · 2026-02-12T21:52:42 1770933162

No corporate body ever admits wrongdoing and that's part of the problem. Even when a company loses its appeals, it's virtually unheard of for them to apologize, usually you just get a mealy mouthed 'we respect the court's decision although it did not go the way we hoped.' Accordingly, I don't give denials of wrongdoing any weight at all. I don't assume random accusations are true, but even when they are corporations and their officers/spokespersons are incentivized to lie.

stackghost · 2026-02-12T19:03:24 1770923004

>I keep seeing folks float this as some admission of wrongdoing but it is not.

It absolutely is.

If they knew without a doubt their equipment (that they produce) doesn't eavesdrop, then why would they be concerned about "risk [...] and uncertainty of litigation"?

gildenFish · 2026-02-12T20:46:27 1770929187

It is not. The belief that it does is just a comforting delusion people believe to avoid reality. Large companies often forgo fighting cases that will result in a Pyrrhic victory.

Also people already believe google (and every other company) eavesdrops on them, going to trail and winning the case people would not change that.

stackghost · 2026-02-12T20:51:22 1770929482

That doesn't answer my question. By their own statement they are concerned about the risks and uncertainty of litigation.

Again: If their products did not eavesdrop, precisely what risks and uncertainty are they afraid of?

caminante · 2026-02-12T21:03:44 1770930224

I'm giving parent benefit of the doubt, but I'm chuckling at the following scenarios:

(1) Alphabet admits wrongdoing, but gets an innocent verdict

(2) Alphabet receives a verdict of wrongdoing, but denies it

and the parent using either to claim lack of

> some admission of wrongdoing

The court's designed to settle disputes more than render verdicts.

hunterpayne · 2026-02-13T05:26:14 1770960374

> I keep seeing folks float this as some admission of wrongdoing but it is not.

The money is the admission of guilt in modern parlance.

romanows · 2026-02-12T18:34:55 1770921295

The next sentence under the headline is "Tech company denied illegally recording and circulating private conversations to send phone users targeted ads".

caminante · 2026-02-12T19:00:42 1770922842

That's a worthless indicator of objective innocence.

It's a private, civil case that settled. To not deny wrongdoing (even if guilty) would be insanely rare.

romanows · 2026-02-12T19:15:02 1770923702

Obviously. The point is that settling a lawsuit in this way is also a worthless indicator of wrongdoing.

caminante · 2026-02-12T19:32:24 1770924744

> settling a lawsuit in this way is also a worthless indicator of wrongdoing

Only if you use a very narrow criteria that a verdict was reached. However, that's impractical as 95% of civil cases resolve without a trial verdict.

Compare this to someone who got the case dismissed 6 years ago and didn't pay out tens of millions of real dollars to settle. It's not a verdict, but it's dishonest to say the plaintiff's case had zero merit of wrongdoing based on the settlement and survival of the plaintiff's case.

dieortin · 2026-02-13T10:41:58 1770979318

That one is about incorrect activations, not about spying on anyone

orbital-decay · 2026-02-14T23:14:27 1771110867

Those lawsuits are not about continuous background spying at all