Google has reportedly reached a preliminary agreement to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit that sought at least $5 billion in damages.
The class action lawsuit, filed in 2020, accused Google of tracking the data of users who were browsing privately.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs aimed to secure at least $5,000 for each user allegedly tracked by Google while visiting Google Analytics or Ad Manager in “private browsing mode.”
The settlement details have not been disclosed, and both Google and the lawyers for consumers have yet to comment on the agreement. The formal settlement is expected to be submitted for court approval by February 24, 2024.
The lawsuit alleged that Google’s practices intentionally deceived users and invaded their privacy by collecting intimate details about their lives, interests, and internet usage.
NY Times Takes On OpenAI And Microsoft, Accusing Them Of Copyright Violations
In a significant legal development, The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the unauthorized use of millions of the newspaper’s articles for training artificial intelligence technologies, particularly in the development of platforms like ChatGPT.
This legal action marks The Times as the first major U.S. media organization to take legal recourse against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright issues. The newspaper contends that the defendants have exploited its journalistic content without permission or compensation, utilizing it to create AI products that serve as substitutes for The Times and potentially divert audiences away from the original source.
The complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court, asserts that the defendants are attempting to benefit from The Times’s substantial investment in journalism without proper authorization.
The newspaper argues that the utilization of its content without payment to develop products is not a transformative use but rather an infringement.
While OpenAI and Microsoft have not immediately responded to the legal action, The Times is not seeking a specified amount of damages. However, it claims that the actions of OpenAI and Microsoft have resulted in “billions of dollars” in damages.
Additionally, The Times is seeking the destruction of chatbot models and training sets that incorporate its copyrighted material.
This lawsuit comes amid a broader trend, as other content creators, including novelists like David Baldacci, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, and Scott Turow, have also taken legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the potential misuse of tens of thousands of their books by AI systems.
Comedian Sarah Silverman similarly sued OpenAI and Meta Platforms in July, claiming that her book “The Bedwetter” was allegedly used without proper authorization for training ChatGPT.
