2024-04-02 18:50:39
The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020, alleged that a unit of Alphabet Inc. secretly collected data from people who used its popular Chrome browser’s private “incognito” browsing mode. While the feature allows users to opt out of data collection when they use the Chrome browser, the lawsuit alleges that other Google tools used by the sites — such as advertising technologies — still collected their data.
Google will delete “billions” of data records reflecting private browsing, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco federal court. Google also said it made several disclosure changes to clarify how people’s data is collected and what activity is visible on websites when users browse in Incognito mode. In addition, the company agreed to allow incognito users to block third-party cookies for the next five years.
“We are pleased to have settled this lawsuit, which we have always believed was without merit,” Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in a statement. – We never associate data with users when they are in incognito mode. We are happy to delete old technical data that has never been linked to an individual and has never been used for any personalization.”
Although the plaintiffs asked for 5 billion US dollars in damages, Google did not include any payments in the settlement. Instead, according to court documents, individuals will be able to seek damages by filing their own complaints against Google in US state courts. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said about 50 people had already done so.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, led by attorney David Boies, called the settlement a “groundbreaking” and “historic step” in requiring big tech companies to be transparent with consumers about how they collect and use their data. Google’s agreement to retroactively delete user information is a major concession because it forms the basis of the company’s lucrative advertising business, which depends on the quality of its search engine. Google is also facing a number of regulatory challenges in the US and abroad amid growing concerns about how the tech giant uses the vast amounts of data it collects from users.
“Recently, there has been a steady stream of complaints, lawsuits and regulatory actions over companies collecting or sharing customer data in unexpected ways,” said Stephanie Liu, senior analyst at Forrester. “The proliferation of privacy-focused class action lawsuits and complaints shows that consumers are increasingly concerned about privacy and taking action.”
Made by Time.
2024-04-02 18:50:39