Google to Delete Billions of Data Records in Settlement Over Private Browsing Lawsuit
(CNN) — Google has agreed to delete billions of data records as part of a settlement in a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of improperly tracking the web browsing habits of users who thought they were browsing the Internet privately.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, alleged that Google misrepresented the type of data it collects from users browsing the internet through Chrome’s “Incognito” private browsing mode. The terms of the settlement were disclosed in a court filing on Monday.
According to court documents filed in federal court in San Francisco, Google will delete “billions of data records” reflecting the private browsing activities of users in the class action lawsuit. The tech company will also update its information to inform users about the data it collects each time a user initiates a private browsing session. Google has already started implementing these changes.
As part of the agreement, over the next five years, Google will allow private browsing users to block third-party cookies and will cease tracking users’ decisions to browse the Internet privately.
David Boies, an attorney representing the consumer plaintiffs, praised the settlement as a “landmark step in demanding honesty and accountability from mainstream tech companies.” Boies added, “In addition, the settlement requires Google to delete and correct, with unprecedented scope and scale, the data it improperly collected in the past.”
In response to the settlement, Google spokesperson José Castañeda stated, “We are delighted to reach a settlement in this lawsuit, which we always believed was meritless.” Castañeda emphasized that Google does not associate data with users when they use Incognito mode, and that the company is happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual.
Castañeda also noted that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit “originally wanted US$5 billion and are receiving zero” in damages as part of the settlement. The terms of the agreement revealed in court filings on Monday stated that users can still sue for damages individually.
Overall, the settlement marks a significant development in the ongoing debate over user privacy and data collection practices in the tech industry.