Google Privacy Lawsuit Moves Forward After Judge’s Ruling

Recently, a judge ruled that Google must face a class action privacy lawsuit for allegedly collecting users’ mobile device data without their consent. The case, Rodriguez v. Google LLC, filed in 2020, is now moving forward to a federal jury trial scheduled for Aug. 18. Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco expressed concerns about whether users were giving informed consent to the data collection.

At the heart of the lawsuit are Google’s Web App and Activity settings, specifically a feature that determines whether Google saves Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices using its services. Plaintiffs argue that Google continued to collect data on their mobile devices even after they disabled the App and Activity button. This data was related to user interaction with apps utilizing the Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4F) tool, which developers use to track app usage and engagement.

Google defended its actions, stating that disabling the Web App and Activity option only prevented data from being tied to a user’s Google account. The collection of “pseudonymous” data through GA4F, Google argued, was done with user consent and was basic record-keeping that did not harm users. However, Judge Seeborg disagreed with Google’s arguments, citing internal communications that showed Google employees were intentionally vague about the data collection distinctions.

This ruling comes on the heels of Google settling previous privacy class-action lawsuits, including one regarding data collection in Chrome’s Incognito mode and another related to location tracking. In a similar vein, Apple recently settled a lawsuit for $95 million, alleging Siri collected user data without permission. These cases underscore the importance of ensuring transparency and informed consent in data collection practices to protect user privacy.