Google Safari Tracking Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed

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Google Safari Tracking Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed

By Dominic Rivera

Federal judge Sue L. Robinson dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit on Wednesday that accused Google Inc. of bypassing Safari user’s browser privacy settings, ruling that Google did not violate users’ privacy rights by secretly using cookies on their web browsers to serve targeted advertisements.

The multidistrict litigation (MDL) includes Vibrant Media Inc., Media Innovation Group LLC, and PointRoll Inc. It consists of 24 consolidated class action lawsuits alleging that defendants, headed by Google, “used coding in advertisements to circumvent Apple’s Safari browser’s default blocker and deceive IE browser into accepting third-party cookies.”

PointRoll agreed to settle its portion of the case in August.

The Google Safari class action lawsuit took into account major privacy statutes, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Wiretap Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, but the judge  said that users were not able to show that Google intercepted “contents or meaning” under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act and Wiretap Act. Plaintiffs were not also able to identify any impairment of the performance or functioning of their computers.

“The district court found that plaintiffs did not explain how they were deprived of the economic value of their personal information simply because their unspecified personal information was purportedly collected by a third party and, therefore, did not have standing,” Judge Robinson wrote in her October 9 decision as she responded to the plaintiffs’ assertion that “the cash value of users’ personal information can be quantified.”

In conclusion, the judge said that “while plaintiffs have offered some evidence that the online personal information at issue has some modicum of identifiable value to an individual plaintiff, plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that the ability to monetize their [personally identifiable information] has been diminished or lost by virtue of Google’s previous collection of it.”

The Google Safari Tracking Class Action Lawsuit is In re Google Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation, Case No. 1:12-md-02358-SLR, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

UPDATE: The Google cookie tracking class action settlement is now open. See how your rights may be affected here.

UPDATE 2: On Dec. 20, 2016, an objector to Google’s $5.5 million class action settlement says the funds should go to Class Members, not third-party organizations.

UPDATE 3: On Aug. 6, 2019, a $5.5 million settlement resolving allegations that Google circumvented users’ privacy to secretly track their online activity was rejected the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

UPDATE 4: On Jan. 3, 2020, Google users argued that a revised $5.5 million Google privacy class action settlement should be approved after the original settlement was dismissed by an appeals court.

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