Google to purge billions of files containing personal data in settlement

Google has agreed to purge billions of records containing personal information collected from more than 136 million people in the US surfing the internet through its Chrome web browser The records purge comes as part of a settlement in a lawsuit accusing the search giant of illegal surveillance The details of the deal emerged in a court filing on Monday more than three months after Google and the attorneys handling the classaction case disclosed they had resolved a June 2020 lawsuit targeting Chromes privacy controlsAmong other allegations the lawsuit accused Google of tracking Chrome users internet activity even when they had switched the browser to the Incognito setting that is supposed to shield them from being shadowed by the Mountain View California company Google vigorously fought the lawsuit until US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected a request to dismiss the case last August setting up a potential trialThe settlement was negotiated during the next four months culminating in Mondays disclosure of the terms which Rogers still must approve during a hearing scheduled for July 30 in Oakland California federal court The settlement requires Google to expunge billions of personal records stored in its data centers and make more prominent privacy disclosures about Chromes Incognito option when it is activated It also imposes other controls designed to limit Googles collection of personal informationConsumers represented in the classaction lawsuit wont receive any damages or any other payments in the settlement a point that Google emphasised in a Monday statement about the deal We are pleased to settle this lawsuit which we always believed was meritless Google said The company asserted it is only being required to delete old personal technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization In court papers the attorneys representing Chrome users painted a much different picture depicting the settlement as a major victory for personal privacy in an age of everincreasing digital surveillanceThe lawyers valued the settlement at USD 475 billion to USD 78 billion relying on calculations based primarily on the potential ad sales that the personal information collected through Chrome could have generated in the past and future without the new restrictions The settlement also doesnt shield Google from more lawsuits revolving around the same issues covered in the classaction case That means individual consumers can still pursue damages against the company by filing their own civil complaints in state courts around the USInvestors apparently arent too worried about the settlement terms affecting the digital ad sales that account for the bulk of the more than USD 300 billion in annual revenue pouring into Googles corporate parent Alphabet Inc Shares in Alphabet rose nearly 3 per cent during Mondays afternoon trading Austin Chambers a lawyer specializing in data privacy issues at the firm Dorsey amp Whitney described the settlement terms in the Chrome case as a welcome development that could affect the way personal information is collected online in the futureThis prevents companies from profiting off of that data and also requires them to undertake complex and costly data deletion efforts Chambers said In some cases this could have a dramatic impact on products built around those datasets Google is still facing legal threats on the regulatory frontier that could have a far bigger impact on its business depending on the outcomesAfter the US Justice Department outlined its allegations that the company is abusing the dominance of its search engine to thwart competition and innovation during a trial last fall a federal judge is scheduled to hear closing arguments in the case May 1 before issuing a ruling anticipated in the autumnGoogle is also facing potential changes to its app store for smartphones powered by its Android software that could undercut its revenue from commissions after a federal jury last year concluded the company was running an illegal monopoly A hearing examining possible revisions that Google may have to make to its Play Store is scheduled for late MayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever