The lawsuit was originally filed in 2020. Users have accused Google of misrepresenting the type of data it collects from users who browsed the web in Chrome's “Incognito” private browsing mode. Google agreed to the settlement late last year, but the terms of the settlement were only revealed for the first time now.
According to court documents filed in federal court in San Francisco, As part of the settlement, Google must delete data that reflects users' private activity as part of a class action lawsuit. Google will also inform users about what data it collects each time an internet user initiates a private browsing session. Google has already started implementing these changes.
Attorney David Boies, representing the consumer side, on Monday called the settlement “a historic step toward demanding honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies.” – Moreover, the settlement requires Google to remove and correct, to an unprecedented extent and scale, data that it improperly collected in the past – added Boies, quoted by CNN.
Google won't pay you even a penny
In turn, Google spokesman José Castañeda said the company “is pleased with the resolution of this lawsuit, which we have always considered to be without merit.” – We never associate data with users who use incognito mode. We will be happy to remove old technical data that was never associated with a specific person and was never used for any form of personalization, Castañeda said. He added that the plaintiffs “originally wanted $5 billion and ended up getting zero.”
The terms of the settlement disclosed in court filings indicate that users will not receive compensation under the settlement but will still be able to seek compensation on their own.
