Back in February 2012, the Wall Street Journal revealed how Google was able to quietly bypass privacy settings in Safari and track the sites people were browsing. The company eventually paid a $22.5 million penalty to the FTC, and now a group of Brits is seeking similar compensation. Google has been trying to appeal a High Court decision that means their case can be heard in the UK, but today the bid was effectively thrown out.
As the BBC reports, a three-judge panel dismissed Google’s arguments and said the privacy claims “raise serious issues that merit a trial.” The method unearthed by the Journal relied upon a piece of code that tricked Safari into thinking users were submitting an invisible form. The code would then install a cookie, which Google could use to track users and, the fear was, deliver targeted ads. At the time, the search giant said the cookies enabled features for signed-in Google users on Safari. At least some of those users weren’t happy though, which has led to the long, drawn out legal battle still ongoing today.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the road either. Google can now be sued by the group, called “Safari Users Against Google’s Secret Tracking,” in the regular UK courts. Should the claimants go ahead — we assume they will, after so much campaigning — we’ll have to endure yet another tussle in the courtroom before any final judgment is made.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Google
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Via: The Guardian, The BBC