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Google iPhone Tracking Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: The UK Supreme Court has tossed a class action lawsuit lodged against Google by iPhone users.
- Why: The plaintiffs alleged Google secretly took more than five million Apple iPhone users’ data by bypassing their phones’ security settings to access their Safari browsing history, but the court found that iPhone users had suffered no obvious financial harm.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was lodged in the United Kingdom.
Consumer advocates say they are “bitterly disappointed” after the Supreme Court blocked a class action lawsuit that fought for compensation for iPhone users whose phones were allegedly unlawfully tracked by Google.
The UK Supreme court unanimously granted Google’s appeal against the £3.2B data privacy case Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Plaintiff Richard Lloyd, a consumer rights activist, had sought to extend class actions to allow for consumers to be compensated for misuse of data when there is no obvious financial harm.
“We are bitterly disappointed that the Supreme Court has failed to do enough to protect the public from Google and other Big Tech firms who break the law,” he said.
Milberg lawyer James Oldnall, representing Lloyd, told Reuters it was a “dark day when corporate greed is valued over our right to privacy”.
Google Accessed More Than 5M iPhone Users’ Data, Claimed Class Action Lawsuit
The class action alleged Google covertly took more than five million Apple iPhone users’ data between 2011 and 2012 by dodging the default privacy settings on Safari browsers.
It then tracked the users’ internet browsing histories, and used them for its own commercial purposes, plaintiffs say.
Google said the claims related to events that took place a decade ago, and since then it had worked to build infrastructure that respects customer data privacy.
The Supreme Court’s decision impacts other pending lawsuits that allege misuse of data by tech giants like Facebook and Tik Tok, Reuters reports.
It’s another recent hit for consumers looking to the courts to protect their data privacy.
In October, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner ruled that European users who sign Facebook’s terms of service automatically give the company the right to process their private data.
Do you think consumers should be able to bring class action lawsuits to be compensated for data privacy breaches in the UK? Let us know in the comments!
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