Google Toolbar Spying Class Action Lawsuit Dropped

A New York resident who filed a potential class action lawsuit against Google last year for allegedly spying on users’ Web activity through Google Toolbar has inexplicably dropped his case, according to court records. 

 

The Google Toolbar class action lawsuit, filed in November 2010, alleged that Google violated federal computer fraud and wiretap laws by spying on users by collecting and transmitting the URLs of the websites they visited through the Google Toolbar, even when users took steps to prevent that from happening. The class action lawsuit claimed that Google deceived users into believing they could maintain web browsing privacy by disabling these features, but that the Toolbar “continued to function in the background, transmitting to Google the address of every Web page viewed by the user, along with information that identified the individual user,” the class action lawsuit said.

 

It’s not clear from court papers why the Google Toolbar spying case was dropped, or if a settlement had been reached. MediaPost.com reports that the Plaintiff’s attorney said only that his client was “satisfied that no further litigation is warranted.”

 

Google said at the time the class action lawsuit was filed that the Toolbar tracking was the “accidental” result of a bug. Sound familiar? That’s the same line Google used when it’s Google Map Street View Cars got caught secretly collecting user data from unprotected WiFi networks.

 

The Google Toolbar spying class action lawsuit was dropped last month, before a judge was able to rule on the key issues. It was seeking damages, restitution and full compensation to a proposed class of individuals for all costs arising from Google’s alleged wrongful conduct.