Google may face ยฃ3.2 billion claim in UK iPhone privacy lawsuit
iPhone users in the UK have sued Google in the High Court for as much as ยฃ3.2 billion pounds ($4.29 billion) for the alleged โclandestine tracking and collationโ of personal information of 4.4 million users.
The secret collection of data was discovered by a Ph.D. researcher in 2012, who termed it as โSafari Workaroundโ. The lawsuit claims that Google had bypassed privacy settings of Safari browser on Apple iPhone devices between August 2011 and February 2012. The campaign group representing iPhone users โ Google You Owe Us โ which is being led by Richard Lloyd, a former Executive Director of the consumer watchdog publicationย Which?
According to The Guardian, the information collected by Google included data about race, physical and mental health, financial data, sexuality, social class, political leanings, shopping habits and location data to divide people into categories for advertisers.
Lloyd before the hearing said: โI believe that what Google did was quite simply against the law. Their actions have affected millions in England and Wales and weโll be asking the judge to ensure they are held to account in our courts.โ
Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Lloyd, said information was then โaggregatedโ and users were placed in groups such as โfootball loversโ or โcurrent affairs enthusiastsโ for the purpose of advertising.
However, Anthony White QC, for Google, claimed that no personal information was disclosed to third parties through the Safari Workaround, and that there is no way to find out if any individuals were affected by the aggregation. White said that the purpose of Lloydโs claim was to โpursue a campaign for accountability and retributionโ against the company, rather than finding justice for individuals.
He said: โThe court should not permit a single person to co-opt the data protection rights of millions of individuals for the purpose of advancing a personal โcampaignโ agenda and should not allow them to place the onus on individuals who do not wish to be associated with that campaign to take positive steps to actively disassociate themselves from it.โ
The Google UK communications director, Tom Price said: โThe privacy and security of our users is extremely important to us. This case relates to events that took place over six years ago and that we addressed at the time.
โWe believe it has no merit and should be dismissed. Weโve filed evidence in support of that view and look forward to making our case in Court.โ
In the past, Google has already paid $39.5 million to settle claims in the U.S. relating to the Safari Workaround practice. In 2012, the U.S. Federal Trade Commissionย had fined Google $22.5 millionย for this practice and a year later, they were asked to payย $17 million for settlementย with 37 states and the District of Columbia.
Source: The Guardian