Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading a group of fellow Republican state attorneys general in urging a U.S. appeals court to reject a $62 million consumer privacy settlement with Google.
The 20 state attorneys general filed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals arguing the nationwide settlement “replaces money that could go toward making class members whole with awards to controversial political organizations.”
The state attorneys general claim the agreement improperly funnels settlement funds to third-party groups whose areas of focus include “environmental justice, abortion and controversial positions on sex and sexuality.” The states said their work was “wholly unrelated to the class’s data privacy claim.”
Bird, in a Thursday statement, said the Google settlement “wrongfully prioritizes left-wing political agendas over the people the lawsuit was supposed to help.”
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Of the $62 million, Bird said $42.6 million would be sent to “left-wing activist groups that have nothing to do with Google.”
Recipients of settlement funds include the ACLU, Free Press and The Information Society Project at Yale Law School. Bird specifically mentioned the ACLU, which the brief states proposes to use its resources to counter “attack[s on] reproductive and LGBTQ rights” and “build greater connection with racial justice, economic justice, and other issues.”
State attorneys general joining the lawsuit are from Iowa, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
Reuters reported that Google, in a statement, said the organizations selected by the parties in the case “have a strong commitment to promoting online privacy.” The company said the states had an opportunity to object earlier to the settlement terms but had not done so.
Google was accused of unlawfully tracking and storing location data for 247.7 million U.S. mobile users who had disabled “location history” on their phones. Google denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The federal judge who approved the settlement in May said distributing $62 million, less administrative costs and attorney fees, to a class of more than 200 million U.S. mobile users was impractical.
Bird and the other Republican attorneys general contend it is feasible, stating new technology and electronic payments have made distributing small sums to large classes easier and more cost effective.
The states are asking the appeals court to vacate and remand the settlement so the district court can reconsider awards to third-party recipients who “do not solely advance the social justice aims of the defendants and class counsel.”
Bird objects to $9 million data breach settlement
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird also is leading a brief objecting to a $9 million settlement with Wawa Inc. in response to a 2019 data breach. The breach compromised approximately 34 million payment cards used at its convenience stores and gas stations
The breach occurred after hackers gained access to Wawa’s computer network in 2018 through a phishing attack. They then deployed malware on Wawa’s point-of-sale terminals and fuel dispensers, which allowed them to access customer data. The malware extracted customers’ credit and debit card information between April 18, 2019, and Dec. 12, 2019.
Attorneys were paid $3.2 million from the settlement, while affected consumers received $2.9 million, mostly in the form of $5 Wawa gift cards, according to Bird.
This settlement is the second attempt to resolve the lawsuit after the first was rejected for being unfair.
“While this settlement bankrolls the attorneys, it scrapes the bottom of the barrel for American families,” Bird said in a statement.
State attorneys general from 15 states — Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia — joined Iowa in the friend of the court brief.
Iowa unemployment ticks up
Iowa’s unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 2.9% in August, ending a four-month run at 2.8%, according to state workforce data.
The number of unemployed Iowans increased from 47,600 in July to 48,400 in August, according to the state data.
Iowa’s rate remains well below the national unemployment rate, which in August was 4.2%.
The state’s labor force participation rate fell by 2,400 workers, or 0.1% of the workforce, to 66.3% in August, driven primarily by retirements, according to a state workforce news release.
“National headwinds continue to cause Iowa employers some collective concern about uncertainty in the U.S. economy,” Iowa Workforce Development Executive Director Beth Townsend said in the news release. “This might explain the sluggish hiring we are seeing now. However, opportunities still exist, as Iowa’s unemployment level remains low and there are more than 54,000 job openings posted on IowaWORKS.gov.”
Anti-smoking group lobbies Iowa gaming regulators
An advocacy organization for non-smokers is encouraging gaming regulators — including those in Iowa — to investigate possible ties between indoor smoking in casinos and problem gambling.
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights sent a letter to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission urging the state panel to “confront the role that indoor smoking plays in problem gambling,” according to a news release from the group.
The group’s letter pointed to the National Council on Problem Gambling’s stance that “making casinos smoke-free is likely to reduce the incidence of problem gambling and improve public health.”
The letter also highlighted a report from Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming which, the group argued, inadvertently makes the case that smoke-free policies foster less problem gambling because the gaming group’s report says gamblers see fewer losses if they have to take breaks from gambling to smoke.
The letter urges gaming regulators to examine the ways indoor smoking could negatively impact responsible gaming, and how smoke-free policies could promote responsible gaming.
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights said it “welcomes the opportunity to meet with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to discuss how a smoke-free environment can support and enhance responsible gaming practices,” the letter says. “Ending indoor smoking will not only safeguard the health of patrons and employees, but also foster a more responsible and sustainable gaming environment for all.”
DNR investigating sewage discharge at Cedar River in Nashua
Repairs were underway Thursday to fix a sewer main leak causing an estimated 16,000 gallons of untreated sewage to flow into the Cedar River in northeast Iowa.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it was notified Wednesday by the city of Nashua of a leak in a wastewater force main that runs under the Cedar River.
The discharge was discovered at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to the DNR. It said measures were taken to limit the flow of sewage released from the broken main.
An estimated nearly 16,000 gallons per day of untreated sewage is flowing into the river, according to the DNR.
Bacteria samples have been collected, and the city has posted signs alerting users to not pursue any recreational activities in the affected areas.
Downstream recreational users, such as anglers, should stay out of the river at this time and avoid the Cedar River south of the Highway 346 bridge in Nashua, the Iowa DNR warned. No dead fish have been observed thus far. The agency will follow up with the city for further assessment.
People can report a sewage release after hours by calling the DNR’s emergency spill line at (515) 725-8694. Quick reporting can help DNR staff identify the cause of an incident. The DNR website has more information about spill reporting requirements.