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Terms of the settlement were filed on Monday in the Oakland,
California federal court, and require approval by U.S. District
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs valued the accord at more than $5
billion, and as high as $7.8 billion. Google is paying no
damages, but users may sue the company individually for damages.
The class action began in 2020, covering millions of Google
users who used private browsing since June 1, 2016.
Users alleged that Google's analytics, cookies and apps let the
Alphabet unit improperly track people who set Google's Chrome
browser to "Incognito" mode and other browsers to "private"
browsing mode.
They said this turned Google into an "unaccountable trove of
information" by letting it learn about their friends, favorite
foods, hobbies, shopping habits, and the "most intimate and
potentially embarrassing things" they hunt for online.
Under the settlement, Google will update disclosures about what
it collects in "private" browsing, a process it has already
begun. It will also let Incognito users block third-party
cookies for five years.
"The result is that Google will collect less data from users'
private browsing sessions, and that Google will make less money
from the data," the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company was pleased to
settle the lawsuit, which it always considered meritless.
"We never associate data with users when they use Incognito
mode," Castaneda said. "We are happy to delete old technical
data that was never associated with an individual and was never
used for any form of personalization."
David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a statement called
the settlement "a historic step in requiring honesty and
accountability from dominant technology companies."
A preliminary settlement had been reached in December, averting
a scheduled Feb. 5, 2024 trial. Terms were not disclosed at the
time. The plaintiffs' lawyers plan to later seek unspecified
legal fees payable by Google.
Alphabet is based in Mountain View, California.
The case is Brown et al v Google LLC et al, U.S. District Court,
Northern District of California, No. 20-03664.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Louise
Heavens and Aurora Ellis)
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