Outlook Email Users Could Have Been Victims of Google Mail Scanning Advertising Scheme

If you use Outlook, Yahoo or any other email platform besides Gmail, you may have had your privacy rights violated by a Google mail scanning policy that was used for advertising purposes.

Google allegedly intercepted emails sent by non-Gmail users to Gmail addresses and used the non-Gmail users’ information for marketing purposes without receiving consent from the senders.

Consumer advocates argue that this type of surreptitious gathering of information from people who did not use Gmail is a violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and could be a violation of similar laws in Florida, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maryland.

You may qualify to participate in this Google mail scanning investigation if you do not have a Gmail account or did not have a Gmail account prior to October 2017 and if you sent an email to a Gmail account between Aug. 1, 2017 and Sept. 23, 2017.

Last year, Google agreed to a $2.2 million federal court settlement regarding allegations it used Google mail scanning to capture information for marketing purposes. Individual Class Members did not receive any damages because consent regarding email scanning and usage depended upon each individual’s own email plans.

Gallo LLP is representing individual California claims that seek $5,000 for each violation of the state’s privacy act. Even though Google email scans no longer are in force, the law firm is representing non-Gmail users who had their emails intercepted during the time the scans were taking place.

Gallo also is able to represent non-Gmail users from other states that require consent of senders and receivers before collection of information is obtained and used for advertising purposes.

“If each intercepted email constitutes a violation, Google could have billions of dollars in liability,” said Gallo Senior Partner Ray Gallo in a press release.

Outlook Users Victims of Google Mail Scanning

Outlook users who have been victims of the Google mail scanning invasion of privacy could be eligible for statutory damages of $5,000.

The Google mail scanning situation came to light in 2015 when plaintiff Daniel Matera filed a putative class action lawsuit against Google. Matera alleged the company committed violations of the federal Wiretap and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by purposefully targeting incoming non-Gmail emails to Gmail accounts and creating profiles for these non-Gmail users for the purposes of advertising.

Emails sent to Gmail accounts from non-Gmail users allegedly were intercepted and processed for advertising purposes before reaching the intended Gmail recipient.

The question of consent is individualized, depending upon the settings and permissions of each person’s Outlook, Yahoo, AOL or other email account.

Class action lawsuits will need to include plaintiffs who had identical permissions settings in their email profiles. Otherwise, individual lawsuits will need to be filed for each plaintiff because user consents to Google mail scanning varies by user, said U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh.

If you are an Outlook email user who did not have a Gmail account prior to October 2017, you could be eligible to participate in this Google mail scanning investigation.

Join a Free Gmail Email Scanning Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

You may qualify for this Google privacy violation lawsuit investigation if:

• You’ve never had a Gmail account (at least not before October 2017).
• You sent an email to a Gmail account between Aug. 1, 2017, and Sept. 23, 2017.

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