Google's Data Collection Through Chrome Browser Faces Legal Challenges in US

TapTechNews August 21, a federal appellate court in the US made a ruling today, overturning a class-action lawsuit that was dismissed in December 2022. The lawsuit accused Google of collecting user data through the Chrome browser without the users' consent. The court held that the lower court should review Google's disclosure information and determine 'whether users would think they consent to data collection when reading this information.'

This class-action lawsuit was initially filed in 2020, and the plaintiffs accused Google of collecting their data whether or not they enabled the Chrome sync function. The Chrome sync function can save bookmarks, passwords, open tabs and other data to a Google account for users to access this information when logging in to Chrome on different devices.

The plaintiffs alleged that Chrome 'intentionally and illegally' sent users' browsing history, IP addresses, persistent cookie identifiers and unique browser identifiers to Google without explicit permission. Google had previously argued that users had consented to this practice when accepting the company's privacy policy. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed with Google's view and stated in the dismissal ruling that 'Google sufficiently disclosed the relevant data collection and the plaintiffs also agreed.'

However, Appellate Court Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. noted in today's ruling that Judge Gonzalez Rogers did not consider whether the users truly understood the agreement. 'Google made a general privacy disclosure, but lured users to use the Chrome browser by suggesting that certain information would not be sent to Google unless the user enabled the sync function,' Smith wrote. The case will be remanded to the lower court for a new trial.

TapTechNews noted that Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement: 'We don't agree with this ruling and believe the facts of the case are on our side. Chrome sync helps users use Chrome seamlessly on different devices and has clear privacy controls.' Although Google will soon no longer require users to enable Chrome sync to access saved information, Castañeda said, 'This decision has nothing to do with the lawsuit.'