Anyone in the US who did a Google search between 2006-2013 might like to sign up here before the end of July 2023 in order to join a class action lawsuit against them.
Google has committed to pay out $23 million dollars in total, although given rather a lot of people did use Google over that 7 year period it’s thought to be likely to come out at about $7 per claimant. So honestly it’s this is just a very minor cost of doing business for Google unfortunately.
Why the payout? Surprise surprise, it’s ad-driven big tech misusing your personal data once again.
From the NYT’s report:
The consolidated class-action lawsuit filed in 2013 accused the company of “storing and intentionally, systematically and repeatedly divulging” users' search queries and histories to third-party websites and companies.
This is seen as a violation of privacy laws as well as defying what Google itself claimed to be doing to its users. It’s a particular issue because people often search for something quite personal to themselves. We’ve largely been trained to feel unconstrained in our searching - Google is the first port of call for many who suspect they are suffering from a medical issue for instance - despite the fact that in reality these days you might often assume that anything you type into the internet will one day be divulged to someone you didn’t expect to see it.
Google search queries often contained sensitive and “personally identifiable” information, including “users' real names, street addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, financial account numbers and more, all of which increases the risk of identity theft
Facebook is also in similar trouble for its unconstrained sharing of your personal data to various external groups, including the infamous Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, agreed last year to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of sharing user data or making it accessible to third parties, including the data and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, without users’ permission
If you used Facebook between May 2007 and December 2022 in the US then sign up here before August 25th 2023 to apply for your share of a $725 million payout.
I think both these actions require you to have been a US resident during the relevant period, although I can’t say I’ve looked into what exactly the technical definition of that is.