UK Safari users win right to sue Google over privacy

[OllyW]

Google has lost a Court of Appeal bid to stop consumers having the right to sue in the UK over alleged misuse of privacy settings.

A group of users claim that Google bypassed security settings on the Safari browser to install tracking cookies on their computers in order to target them with advertising.

Google said it was "disappointed with the court's decision".

I bet they are disappointed but I bet there are lots of happy lawyers looking forward to the litigation.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32083188

 

[roadbloc]

Glad this has passed. Privacy is of utmost importance as we progress to the Information Age.

 

[moonman239]

Glad this has passed. Privacy is of utmost importance as we progress to the Information Age.

Agreed. It'll be interesting to see how this lawsuit will play out, as it may help discourage other people from using Chrome. Tech companies need to respect whatever privacy settings users have set.

On that note, it would also be nice if companies like Google spelled out exactly how they plan to use your data to help users make informed decisions about which company to use for email, searching, cloud storage, etc. Also, perhaps privacy policies should be legally considered binding contracts. If the policy says, or if a company lawyer or spokesperson says it says, that a company won't turn over data to law enforcement unless required by law to do so, then it should be illegal for them to turn over that data unless they are required by law to do so.