In an 18 March decision, US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said that multiple claims accusing internet search company, Google of violating the privacy rights of hundreds of millions of email users, including those on behalf of users of Google's Gmail service, were too dissimilar to be lumped into a single class action, reported Reuters. Email users may now have to sue Google individually or in small groups, which will result in lower recoveries and increased costs.
Gmail users alleged that Google violated federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws by scanning their messages so it could create secret account profiles and target advertising. Schools that use Gmail and consumers who do not use Gmail but communicate via email with others that do use Gmail, also raised claims. The lawsuit sought damages of USD 100 per day for each email user whose privacy was violated. Google has said its software just looks for keywords that can result in tailored advertisements.
In September 2013, Koh denied Google's request to dismiss the lawsuits on the ground that users gave clear consent to its activity, recognising it as part of the email delivery process. However, in the 18 March decision, Koh ruled that an assessment of whether or not a user consented required a broad view of how they came to know that interceptions were occurring.
"There is a panoply of sources from which email users could have learned of Google's interceptions," she wrote. "Determining to what disclosures each class member was privy and determining whether that specific combination of disclosers was significant to imply consent ... will lead to numerous individualised inquiries that will overwhelm any common questions," the judge added.
