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The judge reopened the class action lawsuit against the company.
A U.S. federal appeals court has reopened a class action lawsuit against Google alleging that it collects Chrome users' data without their consent.
The decision overturns the decision of the court of first instance of December 2022, which rejected the claim. The appeals court ruled that the lower court should have considered how users really understood that they consented to data collection when using Chrome.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, alleges that Google collected Chrome users data regardless of whether they enabled Chrome's sync feature. This feature saves your bookmarks, passwords, open tabs, and other data to your Google Account, so you can access them when you sign in to Chrome from different devices.
The plaintiffs allege that Chrome "intentionally and unlawfully" sent browser history, IP addresses, persistent cookie IDs, and unique browser identifiers to Google without users' explicit permission.
At the time, Google insisted that users consented to the collection of data by accepting the company's privacy policy. The court of first instance agreed with this argument and, in its decision to dismiss the lawsuit, stated that "Google adequately disclosed the information, and the plaintiffs gave their consent to the collection of the disputed data."
The U.S. Court of Appeals pointed out that the lower court did not consider whether users actually understood the terms of the agreement. Google stated privacy in a general way, but at the same time promoted Chrome as if information would not be shared with Google if sync was turned off. Now the case will be returned to the court of first instance for reconsideration.
Google disagrees with the decision of the Court of Appeal and expresses confidence that the facts of the case are on the side of the company. A Google spokesperson stressed that Chrome sync helps users use the browser conveniently on different devices and has transparent privacy settings. At the same time, it is noted that the recent change that allows access to stored information without turning on synchronization is not related to this trial.
Source
A U.S. federal appeals court has reopened a class action lawsuit against Google alleging that it collects Chrome users' data without their consent.
The decision overturns the decision of the court of first instance of December 2022, which rejected the claim. The appeals court ruled that the lower court should have considered how users really understood that they consented to data collection when using Chrome.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, alleges that Google collected Chrome users data regardless of whether they enabled Chrome's sync feature. This feature saves your bookmarks, passwords, open tabs, and other data to your Google Account, so you can access them when you sign in to Chrome from different devices.
The plaintiffs allege that Chrome "intentionally and unlawfully" sent browser history, IP addresses, persistent cookie IDs, and unique browser identifiers to Google without users' explicit permission.
At the time, Google insisted that users consented to the collection of data by accepting the company's privacy policy. The court of first instance agreed with this argument and, in its decision to dismiss the lawsuit, stated that "Google adequately disclosed the information, and the plaintiffs gave their consent to the collection of the disputed data."
The U.S. Court of Appeals pointed out that the lower court did not consider whether users actually understood the terms of the agreement. Google stated privacy in a general way, but at the same time promoted Chrome as if information would not be shared with Google if sync was turned off. Now the case will be returned to the court of first instance for reconsideration.
Google disagrees with the decision of the Court of Appeal and expresses confidence that the facts of the case are on the side of the company. A Google spokesperson stressed that Chrome sync helps users use the browser conveniently on different devices and has transparent privacy settings. At the same time, it is noted that the recent change that allows access to stored information without turning on synchronization is not related to this trial.
Source
