Incognito mode lawsuit: Google must delete billions of data records
2.4.2024
Translation: machine translated
In a lawsuit in 2020, a group of plaintiffs accused Google of misleading its users. According to the lawsuit, the company was not transparent enough when it came to collecting browser data in incognito mode. Instead of paying the requested damages of five billion US dollars, Google now only has to delete the stored data.
Google must delete billions of user-based data records. The parties agreed on this deal before a Californian court. For almost four years, the court had to deal with a class action lawsuit against Google. In this lawsuit, Google was accused of illegally collecting data.
Intransparent incognito mode
Reason for the furore: The data in question was collected when users used Chrome's incognito mode. According to the complainants, however, Google's explanations did not make it clear enough which data was collected and to what extent it was used.
Google must not only delete the data, but also become more transparent with immediate effect. In concrete terms, this means In future, users will be informed on the start screen of incognito mode about which data Google continues to collect and which it does not. In addition, cookies can now generally be blocked in incognito mode.
What exactly is deleted
Google is in agreement with the settlement. In particular because the original claim for damages totalled five billion US dollars. However, Google spokesperson José Castañeda refutes the opponent's presentation of this judgement. The lawyer for the prosecution described the judgement as a "historic step for the responsibility of market-dominating tech companies" and as "safeguarding the privacy of users."
Source: Florian Bodoky
The judgement does not change anything on a technical level, because Google "never associates data with users when they use incognito mode". The company is therefore "happy to delete old technical data that has never been associated with an individual and has never been used for any form of personalisation".
Interesting here: During the ongoing proceedings, Google still claimed that it was impossible to identify private browsing data due to the nature of data storage. It was therefore not possible to delete this data. This is now apparently happening. Among other things, Google must delete all fields in the data records whose content may originate from users who have activated incognito mode. This must be done by 30 July.
The compensation payment does not materialise. However, the individual plaintiffs are entitled to file an individual claim for damages. To date, 50 parties have already exercised this right - but these claims have not yet been heard. <p
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.