A lawsuit claiming that Google violated the privacy of millions of people by covertly monitoring their internet use was denied by a U.S. judge.
According to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, because the Alphabet subsidiary never clearly informed users that it would do so, she was unable to determine whether consumers gave Google their authorization to gather information about what they watched online.
They claimed that by doing this, Google was able to gather sufficient information about their acquaintances, interests, favourite meals, shopping patterns, and any “possibly embarrassing things” they looked up online, turning it into “an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it.”
According to Google spokesman Jose Castaneda, the corporation vehemently disputes the plaintiffs’ assertions and will fiercely combat them.
The $5 billion class action lawsuit’s plaintiffs’ attorney, David Boies, hailed the judgement as “an important step in protecting the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”
The plaintiffs claimed that even when users turned Google’s Chrome browser to “Incognito” mode and other browsers to “Private” browsing mode, the Mountain View, California-based business was still able to follow their behaviour thanks to Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps.
“Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device,” he said.
“As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session.”
The suit is Brown et al v Google LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, with case No. 20-03664.
