British users of Apple's browser Safari can sue Google for a privacy loophole that was discovered several years ago. The Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom decided today that users can sue the technology giant for bypassing a privacy setting of Safari. Due to a loophole, Google still could place third-party cookies, while Safari blocks these by default.
In 2012 it became known Google ignored the privacy feature of Safari. This allowed the search giant to unwantedly track users on websites. Google stated this was by mistake and that it only used the third-party cookies to check whether users were logged in to Google+, so that could be determined whether a +1 button on advertisements should be shown.
The Safari users didn't accept the explanation and announced to sue Google. Google claimed there was no case to answer because consumers had suffered no financial harm, according to the BBC.
The court didn't agree with Google and judged that the search giant could collect data for months through the loophole and use this data for advertising purposes. The method raised concern with the Safari users and therefore the court ruled users could sue Google.
Google has responded that it's disappointed with the ruling. The Safari users state they feel the case is like the David and Goliath story and are happy with the ruling. "Ordinary computer users like me will now have the right to hold this giant to account before the courts for its unacceptable, immoral and unjust actions", one user told the BBC.
Google has already paid fines of over $40 million related to this incident in the United States. There it was fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and separately by 38 states.
