Google accused of spying on users Safari on iPhone

A class action was filed against Google in the High Court of England and Wales. The essence of the proceedings - dissatisfaction with iPhone users who believe that the company tracked their actions in Safari, bypassing the standard security settings. Allegedly, Google’s actions affected more than 4 million people.

The former head of the company Which? Richard Lloyd, writes The Guardian. According to him, from August 2011 to February 2012, the corporation tracked the actions of users of the mobile browser Safari, collecting this data. They were needed by the company in order to send personalized advertising to selected users.

The company received a lot of data - not only age and gender, but also race, lifestyle, health (psychological and physical), sexual orientation, social status, financial condition, location.
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The victims believe that the company's actions are illegal, because no one gave its consent to the collection of such detailed information. Especially for commercial purposes.

Previously, the company paid $ 39.5 million for a proven offense - just not in the UK, but in the United States. Now Google is facing a $ 4 billion fine - about $ 1,000 for each affected user.

Richard Lloyd has already sued Google. In November 2017, he filed a lawsuit against the same corporation, also accusing it of violating the British legislation on the protection of personal data and violation of user confidence. The corporation believes that Lloyd has his own game, the purpose of which is to advertise the British and his actions, and not to protect people at all.

Protection of private information is one of the most important issues of our time in IT. According to most, companies should not violate the laws for the sake of raising the level of profits. Nevertheless, almost every week the courts consider the cases of large and small companies that do not comply with the legislation, both national and international, in terms of the inviolability of personal data of network users.