The people behind YouOweUs.co.uk are taking Google to court.
It is alleged that Google unlawfully collected data of iPhone users between June 2011- February 2012, via ‘The Safari Workaround’, a trick to obtain the users personal data by bypassing the iPhone’s built in privacy settings for the default web browser. This would then be collected by Google and used to send targeted ads to the user.
Class Representative Richard Lloyd, with Mishcon de Reya law firm, has formally notified Google of a class action claim. This could cost the tech giant up to 2.7billion.
Whilst targeted ads are common, with Google making vast sums of money from marketing alone, Richard Lloyd alleges that this was done illegally, as the UK has laws in place to protect an individual’s data. The Google You Owe Us Team estimates 5.4 million users could have been affected by this, and could be eligible as part of the claim.
The payout would be distributed amongst UK iPhone users. So, does Google owe you money?
From YouOweUs.co.uk, you are part of the claim if:
a) You were at any time between 1 June 2011 and 15 February 2012 present in England and Wales and whilst present:
i) Did you have an Apple ID?
ii) Did you own or were you in lawful possession of an iPhone?
iii) Did you use the Safari browser to access the internet?
iv) Did you keep the default security settings in the Safari browser?
v) Did you not opt-out of tracking and collation via Google’s “Ads preference Manager”?
b) Were you resident in England and Wales on 31 May 2017?
If the case is successful, members of the claimant class will be asked to register in order to receive money they are owed.
Whilst the payout to individuals might only end up being a few hundred pounds, it’s still worth checking out YouOweUs.co.uk for more info.