Google agrees to delete billions of browsing data records in ‘Incognito’ settlement

Apr 2

Lauren Taylor Anchor

By Lauren Taylor (Anchor), Brock Koller (Senior Producer), William Jackson (Producer), Ian Kennedy (Lead Video Editor)

Google has agreed to delete billions of users’ browsing history records as part of a lawsuit alleging the tech giant tracked people without their consent. The lawsuit accused Google of gathering data from users who thought they were browsing the internet privately in the company’s Chrome “Incognito” mode.

In a statement to CNN on Monday, David Boies, the lawyer for the consumer plaintiffs, described the settlement as “a historic step in requiring honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies.”

Google will destroy the private browsing history of millions of people who used "incognito" mode in its Chrome browser as a part of a settlement filed to federal court on Monday in a case over the company's secret tracking of web activity.https://t.co/bDGvVpk3R4
— WUNC (@wunc) April 2, 2024

“Moreover, the settlement requires Google to delete and remediate, in unprecedented scope and scale, the data it improperly collected in the past,” Boies added.

José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, told CNN that the company is “pleased to settle this lawsuit, which we always believed was meritless.”

Google settled the lawsuit in December and the terms were disclosed for the first time in a filing on Monday, April 1. As part of the settlement, Google will also update its disclosures to inform users about the data it collects in private browsing mode.

Google maintains it does not associate data with users in Incognito mode. No users will receive damages from this settlement, but they retain the right to sue individually for damages.

Tags: Google, Privacy

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

GOOGLE HAS AGREED TO DELETE BILLIONS OF DATA RECORDS OF USERS’ BROWSING HISTORY AS PART OF A LAWSUIT THAT ALLEGED THE TECH GIANT WAS TRACKING PEOPLE WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE.

THE SUIT CLAIMED GOOGLE COLLECTED DATA FROM USERS – WHILE THEY BELIEVED THEY WERE SEARCHING THE INTERNET PRIVATELY USING THE COMPANY’S INCOGNITO MODE.

GOOGLE AGREED TO SETTLE THE SUIT IN DECEMBER — AND THE TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT WERE DISCLOSED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A FILING ON MONDAY.

AS PART OF THE SETTLEMENT – GOOGLE WILL ALSO UPDATE ITS DISCLOSURE TO INFORM USERS WHAT DATA IT COLLECTS WHILE BROWSING IN PRIVATE MODE.

GOOGLE SAYS IT NEVER ASSOCIATES DATA WITH USERS WHEN THEY USE INCOGNITO MODE.

NO USERS WILL RECEIVE ANY DAMAGES FROM THIS SETTLEMENT – BUT THEY MAY STILL SUE FOR DAMAGES INDIVIDUALLY.