Judge Says $ 5 Billion Google Chrome Incognito Mode Lawsuit May Go Forward

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has ruled that a class action lawsuit against Google’s Incognito tracking policies can go forward, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit argues that Chrome’s “Incognito” private browsing mode should also stop Google’s server-side tracking and that Google’s failure to stop this tracking violates federal wiretapping laws. The lawsuit targets at least $ 5 billion, or $ 5,000 per violation for “probable” millions of users.

Google tried to have the lawsuit dismissed based on Chrome’s private browsing explanation, a message that appears every time you start private browsing mode and explains that “your activity may still be visible on websites you visit “.

This was not enough for the judge, however. “The court concludes that Google has not informed users that Google is engaging in the alleged data collection while the user is in private browsing mode,” Judge Koh wrote.

Here is the crux of the process:

Google promises consumers to ‘browse the web privately’ and ‘stay in control of information’ [users] share with google. “To prevent information from being shared with Google, Google recommends that its consumers only launch a browser such as Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge or Firefox in” private browsing mode “. Both statements are false. When users take either or both of the aforementioned steps, Google continues to track, collect and identify their browsing data in real time, in violation of federal and state wiretapping laws and in violation of consumers’ privacy rights.

“We strongly challenge these claims and we will vigorously defend ourselves against them,” a Google spokesperson told Bloomberg after the ruling. “Incognito mode in Chrome allows you to browse the internet without your activity being logged on your browser or device. As we make it clear whenever you open a new incognito tab, websites may be in able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session. “

Incognito mode doesn’t use your existing cookie store and at the end of the session clears all cookies, history and autofill data generated – that’s it. It doesn’t change the way websites operate. If the message from the Private Browsing “New Tab” page is not enough for you, it also links to a “Learn More” page that graphically describes the details in multiple paragraphs. Whether this is enough for Google to avoid this lawsuit is something the company will have to debate in court.