Google harvested 4.4m iphones for advertising

Google collected sensitive personal data from 4.4 million iphone users and used it to divide people into categories for advertisers, the High Court has heard.

The tech giant is facing a mass legal action over claims that it bypassed privacy settings on Apple iphone handsets between August 2011 and February 2012. The litigation is being brought by campaign group Google You Owe Us, led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd.

At the first hearing of the case in London yesterday, lawyers for Mr Lloyd told the court that information collected by Google included racial or ethnic origin, physical and mental heath, political affiliations or opinions, sexuality and sexual interests and social class.

They said information about an individual’s financial situation, shopping habits and their geographical location were also obtained.

Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Mr Lloyd, said information was then “aggregated” and users were put into groups such as “football lovers” or “current affairs enthusiasts”.

The hearing is expected to last two days.