Google Hit With Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

The widely popular search engine and email service Google faces a potential privacy class action lawsuit over allegations that the company scans and analyzes emails sent to and from Gmail accounts without the consent of non-Gmail account holders.

Lead plaintiff Daniel Matera of California has accused the web-based giant of tracking user data for the purpose of ad targeting though all sent and received Google emails. Matera claims that he has never had a Gmail account yet when he receives or sends an email to a Gmail user, the contents of his message is intercepted, cataloged and indefinitely stored by Google.

The California-based corporation offers the free email service referred to as Gmail but uses the information from emails sent to or from a Gmail accountholder to create data profiles in order to target advertising campaigns toward these individuals, according to the Gmail class action lawsuit.

The Google privacy class action lawsuit states that the multinational business has committed acts that would be “condemned as egregious and illegal invasions of privacy under any circumstance.” Plaintiff Matera compared it to a 21st century equivalent of “AT&T eavesdropping on each of its customers’ phone conversations, or of the postal service taking information from private correspondence.”

Lead plaintiff Matera alleges that before Dec. 19, 2014, Google’s email terms of services and privacy did not mention this practice to users, therefore Google failed to legally obtain the consent of Gmail users.

According to the Google class action lawsuit, after Dec. 19, 2014 Google amended its policy to inform its users of their practice of collecting data for tailored advertising but plaintiff Matera claims he and potential Class Members had no notice of this amendment, nor did they accept Google’s privacy policy.

Matera claims that with more than 425 million Gmail users worldwide, it is virtually impossible for him to avoid sending or receiving emails to Google email accounts. By filing the Google class action lawsuit, Matera seeks injunctive relief to order the website company to purge all the information gathered from the interception of content from his and other future Class Members’ emails. The lead plaintiff is also asking the court to order Google to cease intercepting and cataloging content of non-Gmail user emails which he claims is a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act.

In addition to allegations of violating the CIPA, the Google class action lawsuit also claims the company has violated the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

If approved, the Google class action lawsuit would be open to Class Members within the state of California who have never established an email account with Google, and who have sent emails to or received emails from individuals with Google email accounts.

The Google lawsuit has also proposed a federal Class open to all U.S. Class Members who have never established an email account with Google, and who sent emails to or received emails from individuals with Gmail accounts before Dec. 19, 2014.

The plaintiff is represented by Michael W. Sobol and Nicole D. Sugnet of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Hank Bates of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC, and Ray E. Gallo and Dominic R. Valerian of Gallo LLP.

The Google Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Daniel Matera v. Google Inc., Case No. 5:15-cv-04062, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Feb. 5, 2016, a California federal judge approved Google’s motion to stay, and is in agreement with Google that the upcoming decision from the Spokeo Inc. v. Robins case is relevant to the current Google lawsuit. The Spokeo case will address the issue of whether a private citizen has the ability to sue under a federal privacy statute when there is no evidence of “concrete harm,” which is relevant to the Google lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: On Aug. 12, 2016, a California federal judge rejected Google’s bid to dismiss a proposed class action claiming the company violated federal and state privacy laws by checking user’s emails for advertising information.

UPDATE 3: On Sept. 23, 2016, a federal judge trimmed the class action’s claim for an injunction, however claims based on the Wiretap Act will remain.

UPDATE 4: On Dec. 13, 2016, a proposed Gmail class action settlement would provide users of Google’s email service with no damages but would preserve their right to bring their own claim later.

UPDATE 5: On July 21, 2017, Google reportedly reached a revised $2.2 million email scanning settlement after a California federal judge rejected the original proposed class action settlement earlier this year.