Google will have to face a class-action lawsuit regarding its data collection practices, a federal appeals court has decided. The search giant had managed to get the case dismissed by a lower court in 2022.
Google will have to face an old data collection lawsuit again
Google will have to once again fight a class action lawsuit that questioned its data collection practices. At the heart of the lawsuit is Google Chrome and its Sync feature.
Several litigators had pulled Google to court claiming Chrome collected user data without their consent. Filed way back in 2020, the lawsuit alleged Google collected data from Chrome users, while completely ignoring the Sync feature’s settings.
Chrome Sync saves bookmarks, passwords, open tabs, and other data to your Google account. It gives Chrome users quick and easy access to this information when signing into Chrome on multiple devices.
Ninth Circuit revives Google Chrome data collection class action https://t.co/3dDYDXZ6fx
— Courthouse News (@CourthouseNews) August 20, 2024
The lawsuit alleged Chrome “intentionally and unlawfully” collected and delivered a lot of information without explicit permission of the users. Google argued users consented to data collection by accepting the company’s privacy policy when installing Google Chrome.
The lower court accepted this argument and dismissed the case. However, a federal appeals court has reversed the lower court ruling. Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. reportedly observed that Judge Gonzalez Rogers didn’t consider whether users understood this agreement.
Consequentially, the judge has asked the lower court to reconsider the entire case. In other words, Google will have to present a more convincing argument. Moreover, the case now appears to hinge on users reading and understanding the lengthy terms and conditions, particularly regarding privacy policies.
Will Chrome allow data access without turning on sync?
Google spokesperson José Castañeda has expressed concern about the reversal of the lower court’s decision. However, he claimed the company is confident it is in the right.
“We disagree with this ruling and are confident the facts of the case are on our side. Chrome Sync helps people use Chrome seamlessly across their different devices and has clear privacy controls.”
U.S. appeals court has revived a privacy class action against Google, reopening a major legal battle over data practices.#Digital #highered #CommunityColleges #EdTech #Google #Privacy #TechNews #ClassAction #Chrome #DataCollectionhttps://t.co/bkWuCO4ksX
— Sounetu, LLC (@m_sounetu) August 20, 2024
It is interesting to note that the Circuit Judge reportedly implied Google’s policies lack focus in his ruling. “Here, Google had a general privacy disclosure yet promoted Chrome by suggesting that certain information would not be sent to Google unless a user turned on sync. A reasonable user would not necessarily understand that they were consenting to the data collection at issue.”
Google has revised the conditions for using the Sync feature. Users no longer have to turn on the feature to access their previously saved information. However, Castañeda stressed that the two matters aren’t related. In a similar case, Google confirmed it would delete or anonymize data Chrome had collected when users were browsing with “Incognito” mode turned on.
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