Alphabet's Google has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging that the tech company secretly tracked the internet activities of millions of users who believed they were browsing privately.

According to CNBC, the lawsuit, filed in 2020, is being heard in the US District Court, Northern District of California, with case number 20-03664 and under file name "Brown et al v Google LLC et al."

(Photo : KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
This illustration photograph taken on December 22, 2023, shows the logo of US multinational technology and Internet-related services company Google displayed on a smartphone's screen, in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.

Preliminary Settlement by Google and Plaintiffs

The trial in the proposed class action was put on hold on Thursday by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, following the announcement of a preliminary settlement by Google's lawyers and the representatives of the consumers.

The trial has been rescheduled on February 5, 2024. While the settlement terms remain undisclosed, both parties have agreed to a binding term sheet via mediation. CNBC reported that a formal settlement will be presented for court approval by February 24, 2024.

The plaintiff consumers, seeking a minimum of $5 billion in damages, alleged that Google, through its analytics, cookies, and apps, had tracked their activity even when they utilized Google's Chrome browser "Incognito" mode or set other browsers to "private" browsing mode. 

The plaintiffs argued that this turned Google into an "unaccountable trove of information," allowing the company to glean details about their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and potentially embarrassing online searches. 

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Bid of Google to Dismiss Case Junked

Rogers, in August, dismissed Google's bid to have the lawsuit thrown out, emphasizing the unresolved issue of whether Google had committed to a legally binding agreement not to gather users' data during private browsing. 

The judge cited Google's privacy policy and other corporate statements that suggested restrictions on the data the company might gather. 

The lawsuit, covering "millions" of Google users since June 1, 2016, is seeking at least $5,000 in damages per user for allegedly violating federal wiretapping and California privacy laws.

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