Google faces legal action following “Allegedly tracking the personal data of four million iPhone users”, the UK courts have given sign of for action to proceed.
The years were 2011 and 2012, many feared he end of the world due to copious conspiracies, and the Olympics were about to kick off in GB. However, whilst all of this was happening Google cookies were busy collecting data from the Safari web browser, built by Apple.
Health, race, ethnicity, sexuality and finance
This happened even when the users selected the “Do not Track” privacy setting in the application.
This marks quite a time in history, being the first occasion a tech giant such as Google has had class action brought against them for the alleged misuse of data.
The case has previously been thrown out of court due to difficulties in calculating how many people were affected and the damage suffered was not supported by the group leading the case.
However, 3 years on and the Court of Appeal have now agreed the case has a right to proceed, due to the following reasons:
- all individuals personal data has a value
- to define the lose of personal data as a damage, and therefore qualifying for compensation
“This decision is significant not only for the millions of consumers affected by Google’s activity but also for the collective-action landscape more broadly.
“The Court of Appeal has confirmed our view that representative actions are essential for holding corporate giants to account.
“In doing so, it has established an avenue to redress for consumers.” Said James Oldnall, partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, which is leading the case.
The case has already been won, 2012 in the US, and Google were ordered to pay $22.5m, £18.3 in sterling for damages caused.
After Google attacked the Apple software last month and released the data to the press, its certainly not the end of the feud between these tech giants.
