Google Faces New Lawsuit for Alleged User Privacy Violations

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Google is facing another lawsuit for allegedly violating user privacy when it continued to collect personal data even when its tracking button has been disabled.
• Google refuted claims, saying the lawsuit mischaracterized its products
• Google said it would fight the case in the courts

Technology giant Google is facing a revived class action lawsuit that claimed the company violated user privacy when it continued to collect personal data from people’s mobile phones even after disabling the stop tracking button.

The lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2020 and was only revived this year, accused Google of invading users’ privacy and violating California’s laws against unauthorized computer access.

Users of both Android and non-Android devices claimed that Google intercepted and stored their browsing histories without consent, a move that plaintiffs’ lawyers said was a clear violation of user trust.

According to the lawyers, users believed they had disabled tracking features, only to find out that their data was still being collected.

In a decision on Tuesday, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the federal court in San Francisco thumbed down Google’s arguments that it adequately informed its users on how the Web & App Activity settings worked.

According to the company, the users consented to the tracking and that its basic record-keeping “does not hurt anyone.”

Highly offensive

In a 20-page decision, Seeborg said that reasonable users could view the alleged violation as highly offensive as the company continued to collect data despite fielding concerns from several employees and knowing that its disclosures were ambiguous.

According to Seeborg, Google was intentionally vague in distinguishing between data collected inside and outside Google accounts as it feared that users might find the truth alarming.

“Whether Google or plaintiffs’ interpretation prevails is a triable issue of fact,” the judge said.

In a statement, Google said that privacy controls have long been built into its service and that the plaintiffs’ allegations were a deliberate attempt to mischaracterize how its products work.

“We will continue to make our case in court against these patently false claims,” the company said. A trial is scheduled for August 18.

August 2022 lawsuit

Google faced a similar lawsuit filed in August 2022 accusing the company of tracking Chrome browsers after they chose not to synchronize their browsers with their Google accounts.

Four months earlier, Google agreed to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit claiming it tracked people who thought they were browsing privately, including those in Incognito mode.

Law firms representing the plaintiffs valued the settlement at more than $5 billion. They are also representing the plaintiffs in the current case.