U.S. Appeals Court Revives Privacy Lawsuit Against Google

A U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit against Google by Chrome users who allege that the company collected their personal information without permission after choosing not to synchronize their browsers with their Google accounts.​

The ruling, issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, indicates that the lower court should have evaluated whether reasonable Chrome users consented to Google collecting their data while browsing online.

Background Context:

This decision follows Google’s previous agreement to destroy billions of records to settle a related lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed the company tracked individuals who believed they were browsing privately, especially in Chrome’s “Incognito” mode.

Google expressed its disagreement with the ruling and stated confidence in its case, highlighting that Chrome Sync helps users navigate the browser seamlessly across different devices while maintaining clear privacy controls.

Class Action Details:

The proposed class action covers Chrome users who have been using Chrome since July 27, 2016, and have not synchronized their browsers with their Google accounts.

Plaintiffs contend that Google should have complied with Chrome’s privacy notice, which assured users that they did not need to provide personal information to use the browser and that such data would only be collected if the “sync” feature was activated.

Judicial Commentary:

In the recent ruling, Circuit Judge Milan Smith criticized the lower court’s focus, asserting that Google’s general privacy disclosure might mislead reasonable users into believing they had not consented to the specific data collection in question.

The appeals court has returned the case to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who dismissed it in December 2022, for further consideration.

Implications for Google:

The settlement related to Google’s Incognito mode allows individual users to sue for damages, leading to thousands of users in California taking action against the company in state courts.

The revival of this lawsuit could have significant repercussions for Google’s data collection practices and transparency in privacy disclosures in the future.