Judge blocks class action in Google Chrome privacy lawsuit
Millions of Chrome users accusing Google of illegal data collection won’t be able to sue as a class, after a U.S. judge ruled that individual consent questions outweigh common claims.
ADVERTISEMENT
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled on Monday that a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of secretly collecting personal information from Chrome users could not move forward as a group case, Reuters reported.
The judge agreed with Google's argument that whether individual users consented to data collection must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
"Inquiries relating to Google's implied consent defense will overwhelm the damages claims for all causes of action," Judge Rogers wrote in her decision, issued in Oakland, California. She dismissed the proposed damages class action with prejudice - meaning it cannot be refiled - and also barred Chrome users from seeking policy changes as a group.
The case entered on claims that Google trackers users' personal information even if they had opted not to synchronize their Chrome browsers with their Google accounts, the report added.
Plaintiffs pointed to Chrome's privacy notice, which stated users "don't need to provide any personal information to use Chrome" and that Google would only collect such data if they "sync" function was enabled.
The decision follows an August ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had directed Rogers to consider whether reasonable users of Chrome consented to data collection during their browsing activity.
Judge Rogers is overseeing two other privacy lawsuits against the Mountain View, California-based company, though she noted the claims in those cases differ "significantly" from the dismissed Chrome class action.
The case also arrives in the broader context of increasing legal challenges to Google’s data practices. Last year, the company agreed to delete billions of records to settle a separate lawsuit alleging it tracked users even in Chrome’s supposedly private "Incognito" mode, the report added.
