The Alphabet Inc. unit says activating the stealth mode in Chrome, or "private browsing" in other browsers, means the company won't "remember your activity." But a judge with a history of taking Silicon Valley giants to task about their data collection raised doubts on Thursday about whether Google is being as forthright as it needs to be about the personal information it's collecting from users.
On Thursday, at a hearing in San Jose, California, US District Judge Lucy Koh said she's "disturbed" by Google's data collection practices as described in a class-action lawsuit that says the company's private browsing promises is a "ruse." The lawsuit seeks $5,000 in damages for each of the millions of people whose privacy has been compromised since June 2016.
Considering Google's attempt to get the suit dismissed, Judge Lucy Koh said she finds it "unusual" that the company would make the "extra effort" of data collection if it doesn't use the information to build user profiles or targeted advertising.
Google has become a target of antitrust complaints in the last year filed by state & federal officials -- as well as businesses -- blaming it for abusing its dominance in digital advertising & online search. Judge Koh has a deeper history with the company as a vocal critic of its privacy policies. She forced Google in one notable case to disclose its scanning of emails to build profiles & target advertising.
In this case, Google is accused of relying on pieces of its code within websites that use its analytics & advertising services to scrape users' supposedly private browsing history & send copies of it to Google's servers.
Google makes it seem like private browsing mode gives users more control of their data, Amanda Bonn, a lawyer representing users, told Judge Koh. In reality, "Google is saying there's basically very little you can do to prevent us from collecting your data, & that's what you should assume we're doing," Bonn said.
Company Disclosure
Google argues that every time people use Chrome's private browsing mode, a full-page notice makes clear that other people who use the device won't see their activity -- but that it may still be visible to, among others, websites they visit & their internet service provider.
Andrew Schapiro, a lawyer for Google, said the company's privacy policy "expressly discloses" its practices.
Schapiro said that "The data collection at issue is disclosed".
Another lawyer for Google, Stephen Broome, said website owners who contract with the company to use its analytics or other services are well aware of the data collection described in the suit.
Broome's attempt to downplay the privacy concerns by pointing out that the federal court system's own website uses Google services ended up backfiring.
The judge demanded an explanation "about what exactly Google does," while voicing concern that visitors to the court's website are unwittingly disclosing information to the company.
Judge Koh told the company's lawyers that "I want a declaration from Google on what information they're collecting on users to the court's website, & what that's used for".
The case is Brown v. Google, 20-cv-03664, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
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