According to an article in the Guardian, Google is facing a group privacy claim in the UK for circumventing the security settings of Apple's Safari web browser to install third-party cookies to track users' online behaviour, without users' knowledge or consent. The data obtained through these cookies was used by Google to provide targeted advertising to users.
The Safari browser by default blocks third-party cookies and Google had previously given assurances that it would not engage in the practice of circumventing this control.
According to the article, more than 70 users have joined the action and another 30 have expressed interest. Given the coverage of the action in the press, this figure may well rise. A Facebook group entitled "Safari Users Against Google's Secret Tracking" has been set up to inform users about the action.
The claimants want Google to reveal how much personal data it obtained and how, and for how long, such personal data was used. It is understood that the grounds for their claim are breach of confidence and breach of privacy, computer misuse and trespass and breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.
In 2012, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Google $22.5 million for misrepresenting to US Safari users that it would not place cookies on their devices or serve targeted adverts to them, violating an earlier privacy settlement between Google and the FTC.
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