Google to Destroy Billions of Data Records in Privacy Lawsuit Settlement
In a significant development for online privacy, Google has consented to eliminate billions of data records as part of a settlement in a lawsuit alleging clandestine tracking of users’ internet activities. The agreement, which is pending approval from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, was submitted to the federal court in Oakland, California.
The class action, initiated in 2020, represents millions of individuals who utilized Google’s private browsing feature since June 1, 2016. Plaintiffs accused Google of using analytics, cookies, and apps to track users even when they activated “Incognito” mode on Chrome or “private” browsing on other browsers. This action, according to the plaintiffs, allowed Google to amass an “unaccountable trove of information” about users’ personal interests and activities.
As part of the settlement, Google will not pay damages but will be subject to individual lawsuits for damages by users. The plaintiffs’ lawyers have estimated the value of the accord between $5 billion and $7.8 billion. Google will also revise its disclosures regarding data collection in private browsing and permit Incognito users to block third-party cookies for the next five years.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda expressed the company’s satisfaction with resolving what it deemed a baseless lawsuit. Castaneda emphasized that Google does not link data to users in Incognito mode and expressed readiness to delete old technical data that was never personalized.
David Boies, representing the plaintiffs, lauded the settlement as a “historic step” in demanding transparency and responsibility from leading tech firms. The preliminary settlement reached in December helped avoid a trial scheduled for February 5, 2024. While the terms were initially undisclosed, the plaintiffs’ attorneys intend to seek legal fees from Google at a later stage.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, is headquartered in Mountain View, California. The case, titled Brown et al v Google LLC et al, is filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California under case number 20-03664.
