SPRINGFIELD — A class-action lawsuit filed by Android users over tracking software secretly installed on phones during the COVID-19 pandemic is on the verge being settled, after a motion hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court.

A lengthy agreement submitted by lawyers for the plaintiffs and attorneys for the state Department of Public Health has been filed to avert entering into a federal consent order.

The lawsuit was filed against the state by a handful of Android users who lived or worked in the Bay State during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The users objected to involuntary tracking software being repeatedly installed on their phones.

The goal of the “Mass Notify” software the state contracted with Google to create and install was to track users’ locations to quell the spread

See Full Page