Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Google Analytics » Google Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Over Passing Search Queries To Third Parties

Google Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Over Passing Search Queries To Third Parties

Google has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that stems from two searchers accusing the company of sharing their search queries with third parties without user content or knowledge. As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to pay $8.5 million into a settlement fund, with that money going to seven groups/organizations on the condition […]

Matt McGee on July 22, 2013 at 4:34 pm

google-legal-240pxGoogle has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that stems from two searchers accusing the company of sharing their search queries with third parties without user content or knowledge.

As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to pay $8.5 million into a settlement fund, with that money going to seven groups/organizations on the condition that they agree to use the money for public education and/or research related to protecting online privacy.

In October 2010, Paloma Gaos sued Google because the company “transmitted user search queries to third parties without knowledge or consent in order to enhance advertising revenue and profitability.” In the original suit, she said she’d been doing “vanity searches” for her own name and the names of other family members. The suit claimed Google was violating both federal and California laws by passing those searches to the sites that she clicked on in Google’s search results.

Gabriel Priyev filed a similar suit against in February 2012, and the parties agreed to combine and negotiate together. They eventually accepted a mediator’s settlement plan earlier this year, and filed the settlement plan on Friday.

In addition to the $8.5 million payout, the settlement also requires Google to post disclosures on its website concerning user search queries.

As a result of this Settlement, users will be given information about whether their search queries are transmitted to third parties and have the opportunity to make informed decisions about their privacy choices.

The notices will appear on Google’s Privacy FAQ and Privacy Key Terms pages, as well as a Google Web History Privacy FAQ.

The seven groups that will receive payouts from the $8.5 million settlement are:

  • World Privacy Forum
  • Carnegie-Mellon
  • Chicago-Kent College of Law Center for Information, Society, and Policy
  • Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University
  • Stanford Center for Internet and Society
  • MacArthur Foundation
  • AARP, Inc.

Final court approval of the proposed settlement is currently set for August 23, 2013.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment on the settlement, but have not received a reply yet.

Postscript: A Google spokesperson has shared this statement with us: Referrers have long been an important part of the web, helping website owners understand how a visitor found their site. We’re pleased to have reached a settlement, avoiding the burden of further litigation and bringing users clarity around how referrers work.

In October 2011, about a year after the original lawsuit in this case, Google announced that it would begin encrypting searches and not passing search queries to third-party websites when the searches is logged-in to Google. The exception to that policy was, and is, that Google would still send referrer data if the searcher clicks on a Google ad.

Since then, Google Analytics has been showing such searches as “[not provided].” Google estimated that such searches would account for less than 10 percent of all queries at the time, but a great many publishers and website owners have seen “[not provided]” growing substantially — to the point that we’ve even wondered if “[not provided]” would reach 100 percent some day.

(tip via MediaPost)


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


New on Search Engine Land

    The latest jobs in search marketing
    3 content marketing strategies to support SEO success
    Google Analytics 4 guide for PPC
    SEO reporting to impress: How to successfully report your SEO process, efforts and result
    9 ways to become an SEO problem-solver

About The Author

Matt McGee
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

Related Topics

GoogleGoogle AnalyticsPPCSEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The SMX Conference logo.

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

The MarTech Conference logo.

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events
Webinars

Benchmark Your Social Media Performance For a Competitive Edge

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
White Papers

How to use AI to make your PR more human

The State of Influencer Pricing

How to Measure Influencer Performance

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.