Online Privacy: Is Google Watching You?
Our personal data is one the ways that the world’s top search engine, Google, makes its money.
When we use the internet, perhaps we just don’t think about it, or perhaps some of us usually hope that Google, along with other internet and tech giants, such as Apple, will process our data fairly?
However, it seems that this is not always the case. A recent court decision will allow a US-style class action lawsuit case to be brought against Google LLC in the UK. A representative claim will be brought on behalf of more than 4 million Apple iPhone users against Google LLC.
The Issues
Consumer rights champion, Richard Lloyd, started a consumer rights group called Google You Owe Us, claiming there has been a mass abuse of the rights of iPhone users. He claims that a Safari workaround in place for over a year between 2011 and 2012 meant users were effectively being spied on by Google!
Approximately 5.4 million individuals were affected by what the Google You Owe Us group claim was the illegal access of personal information.
It has been discovered that Google could set a DoubleClick Ad cookie on a device, without a user’s knowledge or consent, which monitored the date and time users spent on certain websites, including what pages were visited, for how long, and which ads they viewed and interacted with. It was also sometimes possible for Google to track the approximate geographical location of some of these users.
Google has apparently collated this information and created groups of users depending on their interests and the content they interact with. It is claimed that it has sold this information to subscribing advertisers, in order to allow these advertisers to choose who they direct their advertising to.
Google’s revenue: In 2016, it apparently made $80 billion selling targeted advertising.
The Case
The Google You Owe Us group has launched representative action against Google LLC.
A representative action sees a group of people who have been affected by the same issue being represented by a single person in court, who brings a claim on their behalf.
Richard Lloyd’s claim is innovative, seeking to claim a uniform amount of money in damages for each individual, which significantly reduces the complexity and cost of the claim.
However, the claim has been met with immediate hurdles. The UK High court refused to accept that there was jurisdiction for the case to be heard on the basis of Google being based in the US. It also denied that the claim had any prospect of success, holding that the people Richard Lloyd aimed to represent did not share the “same interest” required by Civil Procedure Rules.
However, the case may proceed…
Richard Lloyd appealed the High Court decision rejecting the claim could be heard, and was successful.
After considering the issues, the Court of Appeal has decided that damages are capable of being awarded for the loss of control of your data.
The Court of Appeal is of the opinion that the people the Google You Owe Us group want to represent all had something of value taken from them without consent, in the same circumstances and in the same period of time. They were all victims of the same alleged wrong and had suffered the same loss.
Crucially, the Court of Appeal could not see how Google would be able to raise one defence to one represented claimant which would not apply to all of the others.
The Court of Appeal has explained that this case seeks to call Google to account for its allegedly wholesale and deliberate misuse of personal data, without consent, with a view to commercial profit.
Is Google above the law? For now, we await the next chapter in this saga!
Article by Lily Morrison @ Gerrish Legal, October 2019