Ninth Circuit Upholds $13M Settlement To Resolve Claims Google Illegally Collected Data With Street View Vehicles

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Google Street View Class Action Settlement Overview: 

• Who: The Ninth Circuit has upheld a $13 million settlement to resolve claims made against Google. 
• Why: The settlement resolves claims Google secretly and illegally collected the data of around 60 million consumers with vehicles conducting its Street View program.
• Where: The settlement was upheld in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Ninth Circuit has upheld a $13 million settlement agreement to resolve claims Google secretly and illegally collected the Wi-Fi data of an estimated 60 million people while conducting its Street View program. 

The court disagreed with nine attorney generals who filed an amicus brief last year objecting to the settlement, arguing it was unfair since the funds will be going to charities and counsel rather than consumers themselves. 

The funds from the class action settlement will be distributed to nine different internet privacy groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy, the American Civil Liberties Union and the World Privacy Forum. 

The judges determined it would not be feasible to pay all of the class members individually, and that giving the funds to the privacy groups was a sound alternative, Reuters reports.

Data Taken By Vehicles Included Emails, Browsing History, Usernames, Passwords

Several class action lawsuits were filed against Google back in 2010 after the company acknowledged the vehicles it used for its Street View program had been unintentionally collecting data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

The data taken by the vehicles included emails, browsing history, usernames and passwords, among other information. 

Google failed to get the claims dismissed back in 2013, at which time the company unsuccessfully argued it was exempt due to the Federal Wiretap Act. 

The company previously agreed to pay $7 million to settle an multi-year-long investigation into the issue by state AG’s who argued the company had invaded the privacy of the public. 

“We work hard to get privacy right at Google,” the company said in a statement at the time. “But in this case we didn’t, which is why we quickly tightened up our systems to address the issue. The project leaders never wanted this data and didn’t use it or even look at it.”

Was your Wi-Fi data collected by Google vehicles conducting its Street View program? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Jeffrey L. Kodroff, John A. Macoretta and Mary Ann Giorno Geppert of Spector Roseman & Kodroff PC; Daniel A. Small of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC; and Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Michael W. Sobol and Melissa Gardner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.

The Google Wi-Spy Class Action Lawsuits are consolidated as In re: Google Inc. Street View Electronic Communications Litigation, MDL No. 2184, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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