MediaPost discusses In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation with Ted Frank.
A federal appellate panel has upheld Google’s $8.5 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging that the company “leaked” data about search users by transmitting their names to other companies.
The deal requires Google to pay $5.3 million to six nonprofits — Carnegie Mellon University, World Privacy Forum, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Stanford Law, Harvard’s Berkman Center and the AARP Foundation. The agreement also calls for Google to pay more than $2.1 million to the attorneys who brought the lawsuit, with the remainder of the settlement fund going to court costs.
Theodore Frank, an activist who founded the Class Action Fairness Center, objected to the deal on several grounds, including that some of them had prior relationships with Google as well as the lawyers representing the consumers. He pointed out that two of the plaintiffs’ lawyers were alumni of three schools slated to receive funds (Stanford, Harvard and Chicago-Kent College of Law) and that Google already donates money to Harvard, Stanford, AARP and Chicago-Kent.
Frank also noted that two of the plaintiffs’ lawyers were alumni of three schools slated to receive funds — Stanford, Harvard and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appellate panel said the prior relationships don’t bar the settlement from going forward.
Read the full article at MediaPost.