In a significant turn of events, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, has reached a groundbreaking settlement to address allegations of clandestine tracking of internet users who believed their online activities were shielded from scrutiny.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, presiding over the proposed class action in Oakland, California, has suspended the scheduled trial set for February 5, 2024. This decision comes in the wake of a preliminary settlement reached by Google and the consumer plaintiffs, whose legal representatives confirmed the agreement.
While the specific terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, the involved parties have committed to a binding term sheet following mediation. The formal settlement is anticipated to be presented for court approval by February 24, 2024.
Both Google and the legal representatives for the plaintiff consumers have refrained from immediate comments on this development.
The lawsuit, seeking a minimum of $5 billion in damages, contended that Google’s employment of analytics, cookies, and apps enabled the tracking of user activity, even when individuals activated privacy modes such as “Incognito” on Google Chrome or engaged in “private” browsing on other browsers.
According to the plaintiffs, Google’s practices transformed the company into an “unaccountable trove of information,” allowing it to gain insights into users’ friendships, hobbies, culinary preferences, shopping behavior, and potentially embarrassing online searches.
Judge Rogers, in a prior ruling in August, rejected Google’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. She asserted that it remained uncertain whether Google had made a legally binding commitment not to collect user data during private browsing. The judge cited Google’s privacy policy and other company statements indicating potential limitations on data collection.
Initiated in 2020, the lawsuit encompassed “millions” of Google users since June 1, 2016, and sought a minimum of $5,000 in damages per user for alleged violations of federal wiretapping and California privacy laws.
This legal matter is documented as Brown et al v Google LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-03664.
