Google Settles Majority of Gmail Claims

Google has settled the majority of the legal suits regarding its scanning of gmail messages for targeting purposes. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. One case, concerning a 16-year-old gmail user, remains on the list, scheduled for an October hearing.

Beginning in 2010, the suits accused Google of breaking federal privacy and wire-tapping laws with its targeting of ads based on analysis of user emails. They appeared to be gaining momentum last autumn when Federal Judge Lucy Koh declined a request by the search and mobile o/s giant to dismiss the class action, saying that 'a reasonable Gmail user who read the privacy policies would not have necessarily understood that her emails were being intercepted to create user profiles or to provide targeted advertisements'. However, subsequent court proceedings failed to certify a class, and the case was broken into a number of separate litigations, leaving its future uncertain.

A statement from lawyers including Google attorney Whitty Somvichian of Cooley LLP reported: 'Stipulating plaintiffs and Google have each considered the uncertainties of further litigation, trial and potential appeals in this matter, the costs, risks and delays associated with the litigation process, the benefits of the proposed settlement, and the parties have entered into a settlement agreement to resolve their disputes.' The file has now been closed.

The remaining case, A.K. v. Google, is slated to begin on October 20th. Thanks to www.courthousenews.com and www.mediapost.com for some of the above.