Alphabet\u2019s Google (GOOGL.O) has agreed to settle a lawsuit claiming it secretly tracked the internet use of millions of people who thought they were doing their browsing privately. According to international media report, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, put a scheduled Feb. 5, 2024 trial in the proposed class action on hold on Thursday, after lawyers for Google and for consumers said they had reached a preliminary settlement. The lawsuit had sought at least $5 billion. Settlement terms were not disclosed, but the lawyers said they have agreed to a binding term sheet through mediation, and expected to present a formal settlement for court approval by Feb. 24, 2024. Neither the tech giant nor lawyers for the plaintiff consumers immediately responded to requests for comment. The plaintiffs alleged that Google\u2019s analytics, cookies and apps let the Alphabet unit track their activity even when they set Google\u2019s Chrome browser to \u201cIncognito\u201d mode and other browsers to \u201cprivate\u201d browsing mode. They said his turned Google into an \u201cunaccountable trove of information\u201d by letting the company learn about their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and \u201cpotentially embarrassing things\u201d they seek out online. In August, Rogers rejected Google\u2019s bid to dismiss the lawsuit. She said it was an open question whether Google had made a legally binding promise not to collect users\u2019 data when they browsed in private mode. The judge cited Google\u2019s privacy policy and other statements by the company that suggested limits on what information it might collect. Filed in 2020, the lawsuit covered \u201cmillions\u201d of Google users since June 1, 2016, and sought at least $5,000 in damages per user for violations of federal wire-tapping and California privacy laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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