Google agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit

Google has agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit, which alleged that the company monitored individuals using the Chrome “incognito” mode.

Google agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit over claims that the company monitored online activity of people who used the ‘incognito’ mode in its Chrome web browser.

The class action, filed in 2020 by law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, alleges that the IT giant deceived users, leading them to believe their online activities would not be tracked in incognito mode. According to the lawsuit, the company utilized its advertising technologies and other methods to collect details of users’ site visits and activities, even when individuals were using “private” browsing mode.

The IT giant is accused of having collected an unaccountable trove of information.

“US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers put a scheduled trial for the case on hold in California on Thursday, after lawyers said they had reached a preliminary settlement.” reads the post published by BBC. “Judge Rogers had rejected Google’s bid to have the case dismissed earlier this year, saying she could not agree that users consented to allowing Google to collect information on their browsing activity.”

The class action states that added that Google could not “continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone”.

The terms of the settlement are not public, according to the BBC, the lawyers will present a formal settlement for the court’s approval by February 2024.

Google has yet to respond to a request for comment on the settlement.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, settlement)