Court Revives Google Data Collection Suit

A U.S. appeals court has revived a class-action lawsuit against Google, alleging unauthorized data collection from Chrome users who opted not to sync with their Google accounts. The 9th Circuit Court ruled that the lower court erred by not considering whether a reasonable user would have understood Google's privacy disclosures to mean that data would not be collected without syncing. The decision comes after Google previously settled a related case by agreeing to destroy billions of records. Plaintiffs argue Google's actions violate Chrome's privacy notice, which states user data won't be sent to Google unless sync is enabled. Google maintains that its privacy policies were clear and that it is confident in its case. The case has been sent back to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for reassessment.