Venkat Balasubramani delves into In re Google, Inc. Privacy Policy Litigation, 12-cv-01382-PSG (N.D. Cal. July 21, 2014):
This is a lawsuit against Google for “commingling user data across different Google products.” Under the policy in effect before March 2012, information collected in one particular Google product was not automatically combined with information from another product. This changed when Google implemented a “unified privacy policy” in 2012, which made clear that Google could combine information collected from different products. The claims were brought on behalf of a class who acquired a Google account prior to February 2012 and who maintained that account after March 2012, when Google’s new privacy policy went into effect.
Claims were also brought on behalf of those who acquired an Android-powered device while the old policy was in effect and switched to a non-Android device after March 2012, and people who acquired an Android-powered device and who downloaded an app on the Android market.
Read more on Technology & Marketing Law Blog to learn what claims survived and why.