Google Spies on Conversations With Verizon Customer Service Reps, Says Class Action

Google records and reads conversations between Californians and Verizon customer service representatives through its Google Cloud Contact Center AI (GCCCAI) software product, alleged a privacy class action Monday (docket 3:23-cv-05437) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.

Verizon contracted with Google and its GCCCAI service to respond to customers who call from California and across the nation to receive support, said the complaint. But neither Google nor Verizon “procured prior consent, express or otherwise, of any person who interacted with Verizon’s customer service agents,” before “recording, accessing, reading, and learning the contents of conversations between Californians and Verizon’s customer service representatives,” alleged the complaint.

Plaintiff Misael Ambriz, a Napa County, California, resident, called Verizon’s contact center several times, including the most recent call in January, the complaint said. He expected his conversations to be between only him and Verizon; he was not aware that Google, not Verizon, provided the virtual agent he was interacting with, it said. When his call was transferred to a human agent, he also expected the conversation to be between him and the human customer service agent only, it said. He had no reason to expect that a Google-supplied virtual agent, “a third party, was listening in on his conversation,” it said.

Google, through GCCCAI, “eavesdropped” on Ambriz’s “entire conversation” with the Verizon customer service agent, the complaint said. A Google session manager monitored the conversation between Ambriz and Verizon, and Google transcribed the conversation in real time, analyzed its content “and suggested ‘smart replies’ and news articles to the Verizon agent" Ambriz was communicating with, the complaint said. GCCCAI “grabs the context of the conversation to suggest articles and real-time, step-by-step guidance” to the agent, it said. The software “is actively analyzing the real-time contents of conversations between companies like Verizon and their customers,” it said.

Google's terms for it AI/machine learning services, including GCCCAI, state that it can use customer data to “'train or fine-tune any AI/ML models' with its clients’ permission (but not the end user’s permission)," the complaint said. “Thus, Google has the capability to use the wiretapped data it collects through GCCCAI” to improve its AI and ML models for the AI-based products and services it provides, the complaint said.

Since “at least July 2020,” Verizon has been using Google to “listen in on conversations” via GCCCAI, said the complaint. Google charges its clients “$0.03 per minute” for “Agent Assist for voice sessions with Summarization and other assist features,” it said, citing a Google cloud webpage.

Ambriz claims Google violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act, and he seeks statutory damages of $5,000 per CIPA violation, pre- and post-judgment interest, an order of restitution and “all other forms of equitable monetary relief," plus attorneys’ fees and costs.