Many SEARCH of us often switch to incognito mode on our web browsers to prevent our private data from being collected. It is also a common practice for us to hear advises to switch to incognito mode while accessing the internet from unknown devices.
We are relaxed on our data being not stored as you run your web searches on your internet browsers but what if you come to know that someone is tracking and viewing all your search history.
On the 2nd of June, 2020, a proposed class action was filed against Google LLC, the American tech giant, which specializes in internet browsing and is the leading web search engine globally. This class action accuses the search engine for assaulting the personal information of millions of users illegitimately. It is alleged that Google ubiquitously trailed web searches of the users via their browser while it is set to ‘private’ mode.
The litigation quests for damages amounting to a minimum of $5 billion and accusing the parent company of Google LLC i.e. Alphabet INC. of stealthy collecting data about what people browse as well as a view on the internet while they use Google’s ‘Incognito mode.’
The complaint that is filed in the federal court of San Jose, California claiming that Google is gathering data through Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics, website plug-ins, and applications inclusive of apps on our smartphones notwithstanding whether browsers click on ads powered by Google.
The complaint says, “Google learn about users’ friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and even the ‘most intimate and potentially embarrassing things’.”
Further, the complaint alleges that Google “cannot continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone,”
Responding to the lawsuit a spokesman at Google namely, Jose Castaneda in Mountain View, California stated that Google will be defending itself robustly to these accusations.
Jose was reported saying, “As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity,”
It is now a long time affair since techies have raised concerns “that Google and rivals might augment user profiles by tracking people’s identities across different browsing modes, combining data from private and ordinary internet surfing.”
Boies Schiller & Flexner are representing the plaintiff. The complaint says that the vulnerable victims to Google’s track history may be around millions. It also lay claims for reparations to each user of at least “$5,000 of damages per user for violations of federal wiretapping and California privacy laws.”
