Google Privacy Class Action Settlement Reached With Android Users

Google LLC has reportedly agreed to pay $1 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing it of collecting users’ smartphone data without their consent.

If you used a smartphone with an Android operating system in Canada, your rights may be affected by this Google privacy class action settlement.

Google Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Background

Plaintiff Kipling Warner initially filed the Google privacy class action lawsuit in November 2017. He was subsequently removed as the lead plaintiff and plaintiff Elizabeth Chartrand was added as a substitute for this British Columbia case.

Class Members of the Google privacy class action lawsuit include Canadian residents who used smartphones with an Android operating system in Canada in 2017, except Ontario and Quebec residents.

Two similar Google privacy class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Ontario and Quebec residents, and they are being managed cooperatively with the British Columbia case. The proposed Google privacy class action settlement, if approved, is nationwide in scope and will resolve all three cases.

Class Action Accuses Google of Privacy Breach

The Google privacy class action lawsuits claim Google violated Android users’ privacy by transmitting and/or collecting their smartphone data without their consent.

The data at issue in the Google privacy class action lawsuits involves the identification number or code of the cell towers used to connect an Android smartphone to a cell network. This cell ID data cannot be used on its own to identify a particular smartphone user. However, cell ID data can be used in combination with data from other sources to identify a user or precise geographical location of the smartphone.

Google determined that cell ID data, when considered with other forms of smartphone-generated data, could be used to identify cell network congestion. In 2014, Google reportedly began building a network congestion reporting feature into its Android operating system.

“If enabled, the Feature would transmit Cell ID Data and Associated Data from an Android O/S smartphone to Google when the smartphone was used,” the court documents state.

According to the Android privacy class action lawsuit, Google abandoned this project and the network congestion reporting feature was never used for that purpose.

In 2017, Google reportedly enabled the network congestion reporting feature for another project that would allow Google to collect transmitted smartphone data to improve connections between its messaging system and Android smartphones.

“From January through December 2017, Android O/S smartphones transmitted Cell ID Data and Associated Data to Google whenever a login request was made whenever a login request was made on the smartphone,” the court documents state.

Google had a server-side code to collect the smartphone data for its messaging project, logging the data in its messaging server for 28 days before discarding it in accordance with a Google policy.

According to the Google privacy class action lawsuit, the search engine giant did not create a parallel server-side code to collect and log the cell ID data. This data was reportedly immediately discarded, except in situations involving a defective login request. In these cases, the cell ID data was captured and stored in the error log for 14 days before being deleted.

The plaintiff claims Google breached Android users’ privacy when it enabled the feature that caused their smartphones to transmit their cell ID data to Google.

Google Privacy Class Action Settlement

Google has agreed to settle the Android privacy class action lawsuit for $1 million, without admission of liability. The proposed Google privacy class action settlement will not provide compensation to Class Members; instead, it will provide for a cy-pres distribution of funds to the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Fondation du Barreau du Quebec.

The court notes that no Class Members objected to or opted out of the British Columbia class action lawsuit. No Class Members opted out of the Ontario or Quebec class action lawsuits, but two objections were reportedly filed in the Ontario case.

In this particular case, the court says there may potentially be millions of Class Members and they would only be entitled to a few cents in compensation. Because the administrative costs would exceed the net funds for distribution, the court finds that the cy pres distribution to the Law Foundations is appropriate.

Do you think this Google privacy class action settlement is fair? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Chartrand is represented by M. Good, A.H. Klein and C. Hannouche.

The Google Class Action Lawsuit is Elizabeth Judie Chartrand v. Google LLC, Case No. 2021 BCSC, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

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