Court Says Google Must Face Lawsuit Over Data Collection Claims

A federal appeals court has ruled that Google must face a lawsuit alleging it misled users on data collection through its Chrome web browser.

At a Glance

Google faces a class action lawsuit for allegedly collecting users’ data through Chrome without consent.
A federal appeals court reversed a December 2022 ruling that dismissed the case.
The court noted the need to review Google’s disclosures to determine if users thought they were consenting to data collection.
Data allegedly collected includes browsing history, IP addresses, and unique browser identifiers.
The case will return to the lower courts for reconsideration.

Google Faces Allegations Over Data Collection

A class action lawsuit claims Google collected data from Chrome users without their consent, even when “sync” was disabled. Data collected allegedly includes browsing history, IP addresses, persistent cookie identifiers, and unique browser identifiers.

This lawsuit, filed in 2020, hinges on whether users were misled by Google’s privacy disclosures at the time. Google contended users consented by accepting its privacy policy, and the initial dismissal agreed with this argument.

Court Reversal and User Disclosures

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a prior court’s decision, emphasizing that the lower court should have reviewed the terms of Google’s disclosures from the viewpoint of a reasonable user. The ruling indicated that the district court focused on “browser agnosticism,” and therefore did not “apply the correct standard.”

Specifically, the 9th Circuit suggested they didn’t consider whether a “reasonable” person would expect that their data was being collected if they chose not to sync their Chrome activity and their Google account.

A U.S. appeals court said #Google must face a revived lawsuit by Google Chrome users who said the company collected their personal information without permission after they chose not to synchronise their browsers with their Google accounts.https://t.co/Zar4LCXvxq

— The Hindu (@the_hindu) August 21, 2024

Implications and Next Steps

If this class action lawsuit is certified, Google could owe significant damages to Chrome users who opted out of syncing from 2016 to 2024. The trial will focus on the Chrome Privacy Notice (CPN) and what a reasonable user might understand about their consent to data collection.

José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, expressed disagreement with the ruling and maintained confidence in Google’s position. They argue that users were adequately informed of data collection practices and provided consent through the privacy policy.

As the case heads back to the lower courts, the emphasis will be on determining whether a reasonable user could have understood that disabling sync would prevent Google from collecting personal data. This ruling signifies another layer of legal scrutiny for Google, echoing challenges faced by other tech giants like Meta.