MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - Google has agreed to delete billions of users' browsing history records after facing a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of harvesting data from users who believed they were privately browsing the internet in Chrome's 'Incognito' mode.
The lawsuit, which was initiated in 2020, represented millions of Google users who had used private browsing between June 2016 and December 2023.
Despite Google's defense in the lawsuit, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers declined a motion to dismiss the case in August, leading to a potential trial. Initially set for February, the trial date has now been rescheduled to July 30 in Oakland, California federal court.
The settlement does not protect Google from further lawsuits related to the issues addressed in the class-action lawsuit. This enables individual consumers to seek damages by filing their own civil complaints in various state courts across the US. Attorney David Boies, who represented the plaintiffs, referred to the settlement as a significant step towards holding dominant technology companies accountable in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.
The plaintiffs argued that Google had violated federal wiretapping and privacy laws by tracking and collecting user data, including their browsing history, IP addresses, and device information, without their consent. Lawyers estimated the settlement to be between $5 billion and $7.8 billion, based on calculations primarily related to potential ad revenue that could have been generated from the personal information collected through Chrome in the past and future without the new restrictions.
While the lawsuit did not achieve class-action status for financial damages, some users promptly filed individual lawsuits. The settlement is expected to have a significant impact on the way tech companies handle user data and privacy issues in the future, as it sets a precedent for holding them accountable for their actions.
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