Google fails to decline $5 billion lawsuit over ‘Incognito mode’ tracking
A US judge has rejected the request to decline a class action lawsuit claiming that it privately tracked the Chrome users’ online activity on Monday.
Image Credit – The Economics Times
Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the US district judge brought a trial that was scheduled for the case on hold in California after the lawyers shared they already reached a primary settlement on Thursday.
However, Judge Rogers denied Google’s bid to have the case rejected before this year, stating she could not accept that consumers allowed Google to store information on their activity in browsing.
The settlement terms had not come in public yet. Although, Lawyers are willing to present an official statement for the approval by court by 2024 February.
The prime action was filed by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner back in 2020, accusing Google of tracking down the activity of the user even when they established the Google Chrome browser into ‘Incognito’ mode and other browsers into ‘private mode’.
A court judge added, “Google’s motion hinges on the idea that plaintiffs consented to Google collecting their data while they were browsing in private mode.” Moreover, the filing said, “Because Google never explicitly told users that it does so, the Court cannot find as a matter of law that users explicitly consented to the at-issue data collection”.
Additionally, stated an “unaccountable trove of information” on user preferences and “potentially embarrassing things”.
It also included that Google could not “continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone”.
The search engine shared the collection of search history helped the owners of the site “better evaluate the performance of their content, products, marketing and more”.
José Castañeda, the Google spokesperson shared while responding to the ruling, “We strongly dispute these claims and we will defend ourselves vigorously against them. Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. 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.
Furthermore added, “Taken as a whole, a triable issue exists as to whether these writings created an enforceable promise that Google would not collect users’ data while they browsed privately.”
Another argument going against Google’s issues that the judge has mentioned is that the plaintiffs stored evidence Google “stores users’ regular and private browsing data in the same logs; it uses those mixed logs to send users personalized ads; and, even if the individual data points gathered are anonymous by themselves when aggregated, Google can use them to ‘uniquely identify a user with a high probability of success.'”
She stated in response to a Google argument, saying, “Plaintiffs have shown that there is a market for their browsing data and Google’s alleged surreptitious collection of the data inhibited plaintiffs’ ability to participate in that market… Finally, given the nature of Google’s data collection, the Court is satisfied that monetary damages alone are not an adequate remedy. Injunctive relief is necessary to address Google’s ongoing collection of users’ private browsing data.”
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