Privacy campaigners have condemned Google for responding to British users' claims that it had illicitly tracked their web browsing by claiming that UK laws do not apply to it.
In a response to legal documents filed by a group of British users seeking to sue Google, the company said the case should be served in California, where it has its world headquarters, and refused to accept the lawsuit in Britain. It plans to contest the right of UK users to bring a case in the country where they live and use Google's services.
Google also dismissed the UK users' claims as "not serious", asserting that the browsing habits of internet users are not protected as "personal information", even where they relate to sexuality or physical health.
Nick Pickles, director of the pressure group Big Brother Watch, said: "It is deeply worrying for a company with millions of British users to be brazenly saying they do not regard themselves bound by UK law. Regulators need to step up and ensure that when citizens are illegally tracked against their wishes, the company riding roughshod over their privacy is held to account."
The lawsuit comes from a group of more than 100 British Apple users, called Safari Users Against Google's Secret Tracking, who have filed a damages claim that claims Google illegally violated their privacy in bypassing settings on Apple's iPhone and iPad browser to install tracking cookies without their permission.
The search giant paid a record $22.5m fine in the US in June 2012 after the US Federal Trade Commission investigated that use of tracking cookies against millions of American consumers. Google did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.
Source: The Guardian
