The Complaint filed
This is the complaint filed.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/michigan/miedce/2:2011cv11867/258318/1/
After reading it I have to say that this is a very ill informed claim that uses so called "facts" which do not relate to the reality of the situation or the technology.
And in is in fact Opt-in.
Even disabling and re-enabling location services ask do you wish to also submit anonymous location information.
Mine has the wording
"Allow Google's location service to collect anonymous location data. Collection will occur even when no applications are running."
You have the choice to disagree and not use the service and use GPS only. (Which I personally would be driven crazy by considering how hard it is to get a GPS lock indoors or in a city)
It is pretty clear what is happening here.
The only point of issue would be is the definition of anonymity. My assumption here is that the UID is not tied to Personal Identifiable Information. My opinion is that in fact is anonymous collection. A UID is extremely useful in terms of managing the extreme volume of information coming into the system.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
