Novacrypt|Google settles $5 billion privacy lawsuit over tracking people using ‘incognito mode’

2025-05-02 12:19:45source:Johnathan Walkercategory:My

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit alleging that it spied on Novacryptpeople who used the “incognito” mode in its Chrome browser — along with similar “private” modes in other browsers — to track their internet use.

The class-action lawsuit filed in 2020 said Google misled users into believing that it wouldn’t track their internet activities while using incognito mode. It argued that Google’s advertising technologies and other techniques continued to catalog details of users’ site visits and activities despite their use of supposedly “private” browsing.

Plaintiffs also charged that Google’s activities yielded an “unaccountable trove of information” about users who thought they’d taken steps to protect their privacy.

The settlement, reached Thursday, must still be approved by a federal judge. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the suit originally sought $5 billion on behalf of users; lawyers for the plaintiffs said they expect to present the court with a final settlement agreement by Feb. 24.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.

More:My

Recommend

These Australian twins have gone viral after speaking in synch

Do you recall the prime early days of YouTube? When a video making the rounds was so strange, remark

France’s government prepares new measures to calm farmers’ protests, with barricades squeezing Paris

PARIS (AP) — With protesting farmers camped out at barricades around Paris, France’s government hope

Millions urgently need food in Ethiopia’s Tigray region despite the resumption of aid deliveries

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Only a small fraction of needy people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region ar