Google faces UK class action lawsuit over 2012 Safari privacy settings bypass scandal
Google faces the prospect of paying out compensation to iPhone owners in the United Kingdom if an attempted class action lawsuit goes against the firm, with a group taking the search giant to court over its bypassing of privacy controls in Safari that took place from 2011 until 2012.
The group "Google You Owe Us" launched the representative action, the UK's equivalent of a class action lawsuit, against Google on Thursday, after formally notifying Google of the claim in July, BBC News reports. The claim by the group is being made "on behalf of all qualifying iPhone users" based in England and Wales who were affected by the "Safari Workaround."
The workaround refers to allegations dating back to 2012 that Google had intentionally bypassed Safari's default privacy settings, used to restrict websites from setting cookies unless the user interacted with those sites directly. Google altered its advertising code to submit an invisible form to allow cookies on behalf of the user, doing so without the user's content.
The Google You Owe Us group is led by Richard Lloyd, a former Executive Director of consumer watchdog publication Which? and was previously a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister. Lloyd is also a class member of the action, and is representing all potential claimants, with support from law firm Mishcon de Reya.
According to the action, the claimant class consists of individuals who were present in England and Wales at any time between June 1, 2011 and February 15, 2012, were resident in the two countries on May 31 of this year, have an Apple ID, owned an iPhone, used Safari as a browser with default security settings, and did not opt out of tracking and collation via Google's "Ads preference Manager."
If the case is successful, potential claimants would then be asked to register with the group, in order to receive compensation. The group believes approximately 5.4 million individuals were affected during the defined period, and may be eligible for compensation, though as the court will determine the amount if the case goes against Google, it is unknown how much each claimant could receive.
"Through this action, we will send a strong message to Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley that we're not afraid to fight back if our laws are broken," said Lloyd. "In all my years speaking up for consumers, I've rarely seen such a massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own. That's why I've taken on one of the biggest fights of my life in representing this legal action."
Representative actions in the UK are relatively rare, with the group claiming this to be the first of its kind against a major tech company concerning the "alleged mass misuse of personal data." Unlike US-style class actions, the UK's representative actions do not permit "punitive" damages that can inflate the levels of compensation, and are not conducted with a jury.
In the United States, Google was ordered by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million for its security settings bypass in 2012. A year later, Google agreed to pay a $17 million settlement to 37 states and the District of Columbia over the matter.
Google did avoid class-action lawsuits in the U.S., with one Delaware judge dismissing one instance due to the plaintiffs' inability to sufficiently prove the firm had caused any real harm with the bypass. The U.K. Court of Appeal did not see things the same way in 2015, denying Google's request to block such lawsuits.
The group "Google You Owe Us" launched the representative action, the UK's equivalent of a class action lawsuit, against Google on Thursday, after formally notifying Google of the claim in July, BBC News reports. The claim by the group is being made "on behalf of all qualifying iPhone users" based in England and Wales who were affected by the "Safari Workaround."
The workaround refers to allegations dating back to 2012 that Google had intentionally bypassed Safari's default privacy settings, used to restrict websites from setting cookies unless the user interacted with those sites directly. Google altered its advertising code to submit an invisible form to allow cookies on behalf of the user, doing so without the user's content.
The Google You Owe Us group is led by Richard Lloyd, a former Executive Director of consumer watchdog publication Which? and was previously a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister. Lloyd is also a class member of the action, and is representing all potential claimants, with support from law firm Mishcon de Reya.
According to the action, the claimant class consists of individuals who were present in England and Wales at any time between June 1, 2011 and February 15, 2012, were resident in the two countries on May 31 of this year, have an Apple ID, owned an iPhone, used Safari as a browser with default security settings, and did not opt out of tracking and collation via Google's "Ads preference Manager."
If the case is successful, potential claimants would then be asked to register with the group, in order to receive compensation. The group believes approximately 5.4 million individuals were affected during the defined period, and may be eligible for compensation, though as the court will determine the amount if the case goes against Google, it is unknown how much each claimant could receive.
"Through this action, we will send a strong message to Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley that we're not afraid to fight back if our laws are broken," said Lloyd. "In all my years speaking up for consumers, I've rarely seen such a massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own. That's why I've taken on one of the biggest fights of my life in representing this legal action."
Representative actions in the UK are relatively rare, with the group claiming this to be the first of its kind against a major tech company concerning the "alleged mass misuse of personal data." Unlike US-style class actions, the UK's representative actions do not permit "punitive" damages that can inflate the levels of compensation, and are not conducted with a jury.
In the United States, Google was ordered by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million for its security settings bypass in 2012. A year later, Google agreed to pay a $17 million settlement to 37 states and the District of Columbia over the matter.
Google did avoid class-action lawsuits in the U.S., with one Delaware judge dismissing one instance due to the plaintiffs' inability to sufficiently prove the firm had caused any real harm with the bypass. The U.K. Court of Appeal did not see things the same way in 2015, denying Google's request to block such lawsuits.
Comments
You didn’t get justice.
As a result, no one else should get a chance at it?
Personally, I hope that Google gets taken to the cleaners and a precident is set. Then they can move on to Facebook and all the rest.
What justice? On some minor thing, wrong sure, but considering all that crap people put out there freely anyway, what’s the big deal 5 years later. You think you’ll get anything worth wild if Google ends up losing or settles? The only winners are the lawyers. Maybe you get a coupon for some dumb thing. Like $5 off when you spend $50 or more on a Google product!!! If you get anything, it’ll be something dumb like that. Google still wins, and they’re now collecting even more data in you.
i’ve been in these class actions before. It’s a joke!!! I’ll bet you, if you get anything at all, it’s be something lame like I said above. The lawyers get millions, you’ll get a $5 off coupon from Google. Good luck with that. Justice has been served!!!
No I’m m not confused, I know what I said. It was a bogus government fine. Google got off with a cheap slap, and the people that it actually effected didn’t see a penny of it. Government got a bonus to waste on more crap. It’s a complete joke. Class Action or fine, the people it actually effected don’t get anything. This class action will either be tossed, or the people will get a joke of a settlement. The only winners are the lawyers. Or the government when they threaten to fine and get big chunk of bonus money. Fines are a joke. Class Actions are almost as bad. Besides trying to prove some person was harmed is going to be pretty hard to do.