Google agrees to delete Incognito browsing data to settle class action lawsuit

Google has agreed to delete "a trove of data that reflects millions of users' web-browsing histories", the WSJ reports today, as part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit that was filed back in 2020. The settlement details were filed today in San Francisco federal court, revealing that Google has agreed to destroy "billions of data points" that the lawsuit alleged it improperly collected while Chrome users were browsing in Incognito mode.

The entire class action lawsuit was about just that, alleging that Google mislead Chrome users about how the browser tracked their activity in Incognito mode. The lawsuit alleged the company didn't properly inform users of the kinds of data being collected, which included details about which websites they viewed in Incognito mode.

Google is also promising to update its disclosures about the data it collects in Incognito mode, and give users the option to disable third-party cookies in Incognito mode. The company says it's already working on implementing these changes, and it's going to have to make blocking third-party cookies the default in Incognito mode for at least the next five years.

This settlement, which averts a trial, doesn't include damages for individual users, but allows individuals to file claims. The plaintiff attorneys have already filed 50 in California state court. More are coming in the next few months.

Google spokesman José Castañeda said the data in question was never associated with an individual or used for any form of personalization of its services, calling the lawsuit "meritless", adding that the company is happy to delete what it refers to as mere "old technical data".

The lawsuit's discovery phase has however revealed internal exchanges between Google executives that paint an interesting picture. Google Chief Marketing Officer Lorraine Twohill, for example, warned CEO Sundar Pichai in 2019 that Incognito mode shouldn't be called "private" because that risked "exacerbating known misconceptions". In a separate email, Twohill said: "We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it's not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging".

The preliminary settlement was reached in late December and the agreement still requires final approval from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California.