High Court blocks mass legal action over Google

The High Court has blocked a mass legal action against Google over claims it collected sensitive personal data from more than four million iphone users.

Mr Justice Warby, sitting in London, announced his decision yesterday after litigation was brought by campaign group Google You Owe Us, led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd.

The tech giant faced claims it bypassed privacy settings on Apple iphone handsets between August 2011 and February 2012 and used data to divide people into categories for advertisers.

The campaigners hoped to win at least £1 billion compensation.

At the first hearing of the case in London in May, lawyers for Mr Lloyd told the court information collected by Google included racial or ethnic origin, physical and mental health, 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.

Lawyers for Facebook said there was no suggestion the Safari Workaround resulted in any information being disclosed to third parties.