Another class-action lawsuit is coming against Google, this time it's about the imposition of cookies and ads

A class action lawsuit against Google is currently being prepared in the UK. Millions of Britons who owned and used an iPhone between June 2011 and February 2012 can take part. As recently surfaced today, Google, by extension the affiliated companies Media Innovation Group, Vibrant Media and Gannett PointRoll, were bypassing the privacy settings of apple phone users during this period. Thus, cookies and other elements aimed at targeting advertising were stored in the search engine without the users knowing about it (and they were also prohibited from doing so).

In Britain, a campaign called "Google, You Owe Us" was launched, in which up to five and a half million users who used the iPhone in the above-mentioned period can participate. The vulnerabilities attack the so-called Safari Workaround, which Google used in 2011 and 2012 to bypass the security settings of the Safari browser. This trick caused cookies, browsing history and other things to be stored on the phone, which could then be retrieved from the browser and sent to advertising companies. And this despite the fact that similar behavior may have been explicitly prohibited in the privacy settings.

A similar lawsuit took place in the US, where Google was forced to pay $22,5 million for violating user privacy. If the British class action comes to a successful conclusion, Google should theoretically pay each participant a specified amount as compensation. Some sources say it should be around £500, others say £200. However, the resulting amount of compensation will depend on the final decision of the court. Google is trying to fight this lawsuit in every possible way, saying that nothing bad happened.

Source: 9to5mac