iPhone users tracked by Google, the lawsuit is stopped

Time: 25/Nov By: kenglenn 361 Views

The UK Supreme Court has blocked a lawsuit against Google over undeclared tracking of the web browsing activities of millions of iPhone users between 2011 and 2012. According to the ruling, the judge has believed there was no way to prove that all of the individuals involved – over four million people in England and Wales – suffered 'material harm'.

The case, referred to as Lloyd vs. Google, had become a point of reference on issues related to privacy and reference actions against the big names in the IT world. According to Richard Lloyd - the man who started the lawsuit - between 2011 and 2012 Google tracked its activities using cookies in the advertisements shown on Safari for iOS, even when the user had expressly activated the option that allows not to be traced, subsequently using the data obtained for advertising purposes.

In the United States, again for tracking iPhone users, Google was ordered to pay $22.5 million in 2012, reaching an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations of violation of the privacy of millions of Apple users to track online searches for advertising purposes.

iPhone users tracked by Google, here comes the stop the cause

In the United Kingdom, Google has turned to the Supreme Court to overturn a 2019 Court of Appeal ruling that had ordered compensation of around £750 for users involved in the class action. Class action lawsuit representative Richard Lloyd said he was "bitterly disappointed that the Supreme Court has failed to do enough to protect users."

According to the judge (here the document in PDF), Lloyd was unable to prove that all the persons named had suffered actual damages. “They overturned a very clear ruling by the senior judges and experts of the Court of Appeal – Lloyd reported again, a decision that seems to be based more on a question of form – namely the choice of the instrument of the class action rather than the individual case. “If there are few consequences for the misuse of our personal data, then there are few incentives for companies like Google to protect consumers,” Lloyd continued.

"It's a dark day when corporate greed is weighed against our right to privacy," said Lloyd's attorney. And again «The government must now intervene to make the system clearer and stronger, introducing the right for consumer groups to act together under the Data Protection Act. The responsibility to protect our privacy, data rights and the collective action belongs to the government again.

For all the articles on macitynet that talk about Google, start here