Google triumphs in iPhone users’ info case
Claimants want redress for unlawful use of their data
London – A high court in London this week blocked an attempt to bring legal action against Alphabet’s Google over claims it had collected sensitive data from 4-million iPhone users.
The claimants had said Google had illegally accessed details of iPhone users’ internet browsing data by bypassing privacy settings on the Safari browser, adding that this breach took place between June 2011 and February 2012.
Richard Lloyd, a consumer activist who was behind the “Google You Owe Us” court challenge, had estimated that about 4.5-million people had been affected by the “Safari Workaround”.
Lloyd said the affected peopled wanted the tech giant to pay out several hundreds of dollars in damages to each affected individual.
Google had argued the mass case brought by Lloyd was not suitable and should, therefore, not go ahead.
Lloyd said his group, to which about 20 000 people had signed up to, would seek permission to appeal the decision.
“Today’s judgment is extremely disappointing and effectively leaves millions of people without any practical way to seek redress and compensation when their personal data has been misused,” Lloyd said.
“Google’s business model is based on using personal data to target adverts to consumers and they must ask permission before using this data.
“The court accepted that people did not give permission in this case yet slammed the door shut on holding Google to account.”
Meanwhile, Google did not immediately comment.
The court accepted that people did not give permission yet slammed door shut