Watchdog Groups Oppose Google Search Data Class Action Settlement

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Numerous privacy groups have banded together to fight the preliminarily approved $8.5 million Google data search class action settlement, claiming that the settlement fund will not adequately (if at all) compensate Class Members or effect change in Google’s privacy practices.

The proposed settlement was meant to resolve the data search class action lawsuit, which claimed that Google illegally provided users’ search data to third party companies. This Google class action lawsuit was originally filed by California resident Paloma Gaos who says she searched her name and her family members’ names on Google. During this search, she claims to have discovered that the Google search sent her to other websites, which allegedly demonstrates that Google disclosed sensitive personal information to third party websites.

The primary claim of the Google class action lawsuit contested Google’s use of notice’s over referrer headers. These referrer headers allegedly gave information to other websites about what Google users had searched before arriving to the target website. It is estimated that the Class could potentially include 100 million Google users. In light of the number of potential Class Members, the proposed $8.5 million could not possibly compensate every single member, according to the privacy groups’ opposition of the Google class action settlement.

The coalition of privacy groups opposing the preliminary approved Google data search class action settlement include the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Consumer Watchdog, and others. In their letter written to Judge Edward J. Davila, the privacy group coalition claims:

“The proposed settlement is bad for consumers and does nothing to change Google’s business practices. The company will simply revise its notice so that it may continue to engage in the privacy-invading practice that class counsel claimed at one time provided the basis for class action certification and monetary relief. The settlement confers no monetary relief to Class Members, compels no substantive change in Google’s business practices, and misallocates the cy pres distribution to organizations that, save one, are not aligned with the interests of class members and do not further the purpose of the litigation.”

Since Gaos originally filed her complaint in March 2012, the Google search data class action lawsuit has gone through several litigation certifications and denials. Judge Davila removed several claims from the original class action lawsuit, which did not have enough backing to stand in court. However, the class action allegations that Google violated the Stored Communication Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and California’s Unfair Competition Law were allowed to proceed.

The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Aschenbrener of Aschenbrener Law PC, Kassra Nassiri and Charles H. Jung of Nassiri & Jung LLP and Ilan Chorowsky of Progressive Law Group LLC.

The Google Search Data Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Google Referrrer Header Privacy Litigation, Case No. 5:10-cv-04809, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.