Mountain View tech giant is out of the frying pan, into the fire, as dozens of state court lawsuits follow its settlement of federal court case.
A man walks past a building on the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. Silicon Valley, fueled by its tech giants and digital startups, is driving the Bay Area’s growth.
Now the same law firm is rounding up plaintiffs by the thousands — including hundreds in the Bay Area — to sue Google on similar claims in state court in San Jose. Many more state court lawsuits are likely to follow, said Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman. Plaintiffs may not be able to win their cases or establish damages without revealing the way they used Incognito, Goldman said. For example, a user who employed Incognito to limit exposure of their banking information would not have a strong damages claim without evidence their financial data was compromised.
Google called the new lawsuits “meritless” — as it did regarding the federal case after the settlement was announced — and added, “we will defend ourselves vigorously.” Google, the new lawsuits alleged, builds detailed, “cradle-to-grave” profiles of individual internet users by tracking internet, phone and app activity, and identifying devices. It also receives users’ data — including that generated during Incognito browsing — from websites using Google advertising technology. Through its algorithms and artificial intelligence, the company can in many cases link Incognito mode browsing data to individual profiles, the lawsuits claimed.
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