A US federal court in Delaware has rejected a class-action lawsuit against Google. A group of consumers had claimed that Google had caused them harm by circumventing the privacy settings on Apple’s web browser Safari.

US court rejects a class-action lawsuit against Google ©-Victoria-Fotolia
US court rejects a class-action lawsuit against Google ©-Victoria-Fotolia

Class-action lawsuit

The class-action lawsuit accused Google of causing harm by circumventing the privacy settings of the web browser Safari.

Google was accused of using the measures in order to place cookies on users’ computers and direct user-specific advertisements towards them.

The claim was rejected by the judge who found that the claimants had failed to sufficiently demonstrate that Google had caused them harm. The judge ruled that as a URL is not a substantive form of electronic communication, Google had not breached privacy law or users’ personality rights.

Google fined

The Federal Trade Commission fined Google about a year ago for its activities. However the search engine operator was allowed to avoid admitting liability.