Federal judge slaps down Google's motion to dismiss lawsuit

A federal judge has rejected Google's motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit, which accuses the company of collecting users' data even when using Chrome's Incognito mode.

Three Google users - Maria Nguyen and Chasom Brown of Los Angeles and William Byatt of Florida - filed the lawsuit in June 2020. They alleged that Google tracks web activity even in private browsing mode, without 'a legitimate business interest' and without their consent.

The suit, known as Brown v. Google, added that in some instances, other websites that used Google Ad Manager or Google Analytics sent 'a secret, separate message' to Google's servers in California.

'Google knows who your friends are, what your hobbies are, what you like to eat, what movies you watch…..regardless of whether you follow Google's advice to keep your activities private,' the complaint states.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion (£3.6 billion), or $5,000 (about £3,615) per violation for 'likely' millions of users.

Google said the plaintiffs were given sufficient information about how their web activities might be tracked while using the private browsing mode, and that they consented to the company's privacy policy.

Google's lawyers wrote, "'Incognito' does not mean 'invisible'." They added that Google notifies users that their activity during a private session "may be visible to websites they visit, and any third-party analytics or ads services the visited websites use."

Google also requested the court to throw out the case.

However, Lucy Koh, a judge for the northern district of California, rejected Google's motion. She ruled that the company had failed to notify plaintiffs that it would be engaging in the alleged data collection while they were in private browsing mode.

Koh has history of involvement in cases involving Big Tech. She played a key part in the battle between Apple and Samsung, as well as more recently ruling against Qualcomm in an antitrust case.

In a statement to Bloomberg, a Google spokesperson said that the company disputes the claims and would continue to defend itself against them.

The ruling comes as technology firms like Google, Facebook and Apple are facing intense scrutiny worldwide over their data collection practices.

In October, the USA's Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the company uses anticompetitive search and advertising practices that violate federal antitrust laws.

The DoJ claimed that Google is hurting consumers by making it difficult for other search engines to gain a foothold in the market.

Nearly 80 per cent of all web searches in the US go through Google, and the figures are even higher on smartphones, said the DoJ. That's because Google has spent billions of dollars over the years to ensure that its search engine is the default choice on different browsers and phones, like Apple iPhones.

Last year, Google announced that it would phase out support for third-party cookies by 2022. Earlier this month, it revealed plans to stop selling ads that rely on users' web browsing history - a move that could push the digital advertising industry away from the use of individualised tracking.

According to Google, once third-party cookies are gone from Chrome, it would neither create nor use any alternative user-level identifiers in its products to track people as they browse across websites.