Promises to delete information on 136 million users

Google has reportedly agreed to delete web information collected about 136 million Chrome users in a proposed settlement.

The case is not yet hero finished

The case is still about the incognito mode feature of Chrome from Google where the company lost a privacy case that we reported last December:

“According to the accusations, Google must have collected information about what people browse, including as mentioned with private mode active. According to the lawsuit, Google collects information from, among other things, Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and a number of other services and extensions to the browser. Mobile apps are also included. All this to learn about the users’ shopping habits and “the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things”, according to the lawsuit in summer 2020.

Added to this after a fine of NOK 53 billion

Agrees to delete “technical data”

The proposal for the settlement, which must ultimately be approved by a judge, mandates that Google be transparent in relation to what information they collect in “Incognito” mode, and that they limit the collection of data.

Google disagrees with the case and states that they do not “associate data with users when they use incognito mode,” but that they have nothing against deleting what they refer to as “technical data:” “We are happy to delete old technical data that never was associated with a person and was never used for any kind of personalization, says Google spokesperson José Castañeda.

“The settlement ensures real accountability and transparency from the world’s largest data collector and marks an important step towards improving and maintaining our right to privacy on the Internet,” was the plaintiffs’ message in the proposed settlement.