The American technology corporation Google will delete billions of user data about Internet searches in incognito mode, CNN reported.
The global network reports that this will be done on the basis of a court settlement that will end a class-action lawsuit against Google, which alleges that the company illegally monitored the habits of users who thought they were browsing the Internet privately.
CNN adds that Google accepted the lawsuit in 2020 late last year in a settlement, the terms of which were announced on April 1 in a filing with a court in San Francisco.
It says Google has committed to updating the system to let users know what data it collects when a user starts a private browsing session, and that the changes are already in place.
According to CNN, over the next five years Google will allow incognito users to block third-party cookies and not track their choices to browse the Internet privately.
"Prosecutors demanded honesty and responsibility"
David Boyce, an attorney for the consumers who filed the lawsuit, called the settlement a historic step in demanding honesty and accountability from technology companies.
"The settlement requires Google to delete and correct, on an unprecedented scale and scale, the data it improperly collected," Bois told CNN.
Jose Castaneda, a spokesman for Google, told CNN that the company was pleased to settle the lawsuit, which it believed was unnecessary.
"We never associate data with users when they use anonymous mode. We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and used for any form of personalization," Castaneda told CNN.
He added that the prosecutors "originally wanted $5 billion, but they are getting zero."
The terms of the settlement in court filings in a San Francisco court state that users will not receive damages as part of this settlement, but that they can sue individually for damages.
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