A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against US tech giant Google on Tuesday. The search engine operator was accused in the suit of illegally and covertly accessing the information and data of millions of users using the Incognito feature on its Chrome internet browser.
The lawsuit against Alphabet Inc's subsidiary is demanding that the company pay at least $5 billion as compensation. According to the complaint, which was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, Google allegedly continued to collect data from its browser even if they were set to "private" mode. The complaint claims that Google's actions were in direct violation of the country's federal wiretapping law and California's privacy laws.
The data that was collected reportedly included sites that people viewed online and other browsing activities, even on browsers that were set on Incognito mode. An investigation into the company's activities found that Google had gathered the data through its various online tools, including Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, and a number of other browser plug-ins and mobile applications.
Google's unauthorized collection of user data allegedly affected "millions" of users since the introduction of the incognito mode feature on its browser back in 2008. The complaint stated that everyone with a computer or a smartphone has been affected by the company's covert and illegal actions. The compensation amount that the suit is seeking was calculated on damages of at least $5,000 per user estimated to have been affected in the United States.
The complaint explained that Google had gathered the data to help its algorithm learn more about a user's behavior and activities such as his or her shopping habits, hobbies, favorite restaurants, internet search history, friends, and other relevant information. The lawsuit claims that the unauthorized collection of the data is a clear violation of user privacy.
Google released a statement in response to the filing of the lawsuit, stating that it will be defending itself "vigorously." Company spokesman, Jose Castaneda, stated that Google had made it explicitly clear to users who use Chrome that some websites and third-party tools may collect some data pertaining to browsing activities during their online sessions. He added that Incognito was introduced to its browser to give users an option to prevent Chrome from saving their internet activity and nothing more.
The plaintiffs in the case are represented by New York-based law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner. The main plaintiffs indicated in the suit are Chasom Brown, Maria Nguyen, and William Byatt.
