Google is facing a lawsuit that it tried (and failed) to kill. Bloomberg reported that the suit alleges that Google secretly scoops up troves of internet data even if users browse in “Incognito” mode to keep their search activity private.
The case is called Brown v. Google LLC, and was brought by three plaintiffs (individually and on behalf of all other similarly situated). The defendants are Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. The case was filed in June of 2020 in U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
Plaintiff’s alleged: “… To prevent information being shared with Google, Google recommends that its consumers need only launch a browser such as Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox in ‘private browsing mode’. Both statements are untrue. When users undertake either – or both – of the aforementioned steps, Google continues to track, collect, and identify their browsing data in real time, in contravention of federal and state laws on wiretapping and in violation of consumers’ rights to privacy.”
…Google knows who your friends are, what your hobbies are, what you like to eat, what movies you watch, where and when you like to shop, what your favorite vacation destinations are, what your favorite color is, and even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things you browse on the internet – regardless of if you follow Google’s advice to keep your activities “private”…
Bloomberg reported that the plaintiffs alleged that even when they turn off data collection in Chrome, other Google tools used by websites end up amassing their personal information. Federal judge Lucy Koh denied Google’s request to throw out the case.
“The court concludes that Google did not notify users that Google engages in the alleged data collection while the user is in private browsing mode”, Judge Koh wrote.
According to The Verge, that Google said in a court filing that it makes clear to users “that ‘Incognito’ does not mean ‘invisible,” and that the user’s activity during that session may be visible to websites they visit, and any third-party analytics or ads services the visited websites use.”
As far as I can tell, there has not been a ruling on the case yet. One thing is clear: there are likely a lot of people who believed that they would not be tracked while using the “Incognito” part of Google’s browser. If the plaintiffs win their case, it could mean big problems for Google, especially in regards to users from states with strong data privacy laws.