Google has agreed to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit that the company secretly tracked the activity of Chrome browser users who thought they were browsing the web privately in “incognito” mode. This is reported by Reuters.
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Instead of paying $5 billion in damages, Google agreed to destroy billions of data records, update data collection information, and maintain settings that block third-party cookies in incognito mode for the next five years.
Litig against Google
A class action lawsuit against the IT giant began in 2020, including millions of Google users who have used private browsing since June 1, 2016.
Users claim Google analytics, files Cookies and apps allow the company to track people who use the Chrome browser in incognito mode.
They said this turned Google into an “uncontrolled repository of information,” allowing the company to learn their friends, favorite foods, hobbies, shopping habits and “the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things” they search for on the Internet.
Under the agreement, Google will update its disclosures about what it collects in “private browsing” mode, a process that has already begun. Private mode users will also be allowed to block third-party cookies for five years.
“As a result, Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions and will also make less money from this data,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company is pleased to settle the lawsuit, which it considers baseless.
“We never associate data with users when they use incognito mode. We will happily remove old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization,” Castaneda noted.
