Google iPhone Tracking Lawsuit Revived in UK

A London appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit brought by a consumer activist against Google related to privacy violations can move forward.

Richard Lloyd had filed suit against Google claiming that the company went around privacy settings on iPhones and inserted cookies on Safari browsers for advertising purposes.

The plaintiff alleges that Google tracked internet activity of more than 4 million iPhone users in Britain between Aug. 9, 2011 and Feb. 15, 2012.

Lloyd filed a claim on May 31, 2017 alleging that Google breached their statutory duty under section 4(4) of the Data Protection Act. The appeals court opinion states that the claim sought damages for “infringement of their data protection rights, commission of the wrong, and loss of control over their data protection rights.”

The Google class action lawsuit alleged that Google did not comply with the first, second, and seventh data protection principles of the DPA.

A lower court had ruled that the represented Class had not suffered damage under section 13 of the DPA and that the members of the Class did not have the “same interest” under the law.

However, the appeals court notes that, “As is well-known, ‘cookies’ can be placed on a user’s device, enabling the placer of the cookie to identify and track internet activity undertaken by means of that device.”

The opinion states that Third Party Cookies are used to gather information about a person’s internet use in order to deliver the user certain advertisements which are customized to a person’s interests. 

The court of appeals notes that Google had a Third Party Cookie known as the DoubleClick Ad Cookie, which would be placed on the iPhone if the user visited a website that had content from the DoubleClick domain.

The opinion further states that the Safari browser was set to block Third Party Cookies by default, but Apple created a few exceptions to these default settings, which were in place until March 2012. The court notes that this exception allowed Google to create a workaround so that their DoubleClick cookies were placed on a device without the user’s consent or knowledge.

By utilizing its workaround, Google was reportedly able to identify visits to any website which showed an advertisement from its large network, and thus, collect a lot of information about the user.

The Google class action lawsuit also stated that regulatory action was taken against Google in August 2012 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) when Google stated that it misrepresented to Safari users that it would not place cookies on their devices or serve them targeted advertisements.

The appeals court opined that “a person’s control over data or over their [Browser Generated Information] BGI does have a value, so that the loss of that control must also have a value. In one sense, if that is right, it is sufficient to answer the question of whether, in theory, a person can recover compensation under section 13 and article 23.”

Were you targeted with advertisements on your iPhone? Tell us in the comment section below.

The plaintiff is represented by Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix Chambers, Oliver Campbell QC of Henderson Chambers and Victoria Wakefield QC of Brick Court Chambers, instructed by Mishcon de Reya LLP.

The Google Cookies Lawsuit is Richard Lloyd v. Google LLC, Case No. A2/2018/2769, in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

UPDATE: July 2020, three judges have given the go-ahead for Google to appeal a group action lawsuit claim over its use of tracking cookies to collect data.

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