Google is paying cash to track every move you make on your mobile device

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A new study by Google aims to improve the online user experience by collecting your data.

They’re offering families twenty dollars to sign up their cell phones for study, and users will earn points that can be converted to cash the longer they allow the tracking to continue.

Families can allow their children as young as thirteen to have their phones tracked and earn up to $540 a year.

Experts warn that those considering taking part should consider the consequences.

“This is a really powerful device,” said Prof. Barney McCoy, while holding up his cell phone. “It’s really opened up the world to all of us here, but at the same time that world has consequences.”

McCoy is a journalism professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism.

With decades of experience in investigative journalism, he says Google is not the first company to recognize why access to private information is so sought after.

“They want to have behavioral analysis,” he said. “On a plus side, they want to figure out if there are better ways they can deliver information to our users that can help accommodate their interests, their needs, their curiosities about products or services that could fit with their lifestyle.”

“Those are the good things that can happen if you have a good flow of information,” said McCoy.

Google says its digital activity study is meant to develop products and improve the user experience, not for affiliate marketing, but agreeing to take part will require trust.

McCoy says, “There’s a long history of data being misused illegally, and in some cases, certainly unethically.”

In July 2020, a court ordered Google to pay $425 million in a class action lawsuit for misleading users about online privacy, according to Malwarebytes.

The company was caught in controversy again in February 2023, when Google paid $392 million in a settlement to 40 states for storing users’ locations despite saying it would not.

UNL students seem weary of the new study, as journalism student Katie Wassenmiller is.

“I just feel like if someone was tracking everything I did online, I would feel cautious,” she said. “Like I’m being watched because I am.”

Wassenmiller adds, “It’s not like I’m doing anything crazy on my phone, but I value my privacy. It’s important to me.”

Other reasons for concern? Potential over-generalizations are used to develop AI models and future misinterpretations that can be harmful to your reputation.

Dasani Wilson, a Broadcast major at UNL, agrees.

“You don’t know what they’ll do with that info,” she said. “If I had a child, and you had info on my kid, oh no…I  think about a few years later, you never know.”

McCoy warns that you must always read the fine print accompanying these studies, as the company may track you longer than expected.