Mississippi sues Google, saying it violates student privacy

By JEFF AMY
Associated Press

ap_92707314010JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s attorney general is once again tangling with Google, alleging it is illegally violating student privacy.

Attorney General Jim Hood sued the California-based computer giant Friday in Lowndes County Chancery Court. Hood, a Democrat, says Google is breaking Mississippi consumer protection law by selling ads using data from services it provides to schools.

Hood wants a judge to order Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., to stop the practice. The suit says Google could be fined $10,000 for every student account in Mississippi. With half the state’s school districts using Google’s email, calendar and other online services, that amount could top $1 billion.

Google sued Hood in 2014, saying Hood’s wide-ranging attempts to investigate whether Google was aiding music pirating and illegal drug sales were illegal. An appeals court ruled in April that Hood’s inquiry was legal.

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