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san francisco, california — Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately.
The object of the lawsuit was the “incognito mode” on Google’s Chrome browser that the plaintiffs said gave users a false sense that what they were surfing online was not being tracked by the Silicon Valley tech firm.
But internal Google emails brought forward in the lawsuit demonstrated that users using incognito mode were being followed by the search and advertising behemoth for measuring web traffic and selling ads.
In a court filing, the judge confirmed that lawyers for Google reached a preliminary agreement to settle the class action lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, which claimed that “millions of individuals” had likely been affected.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs were seeking at least $5,000 for each user it said had been tracked by the firm’s Google Analytics or Ad Manager services even when in the private browsing mode and not logged into their Google account.
This would have amounted to at least $5 billion, though the settlement amount will likely not reach that figure, and no amount was given for the preliminary settlement between the parties.
Google and lawyers for the consumers did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
The settlement came just weeks after Google was denied a request that the case be decided by a judge. A jury trial was set to begin next year.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, claimed Google’s practices had infringed on users’ privacy by intentionally deceiving them with the incognito option.
The original complaint alleged that Google and its employees had been given the “power to learn intimate details about individuals’ lives, interests, and internet usage.”
“Google has made itself an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it,” it added.
A formal settlement is expected for court approval by February 24, 2024.
Class action lawsuits have become the main venue to challenge big tech companies on data privacy matters in the United States, which lacks a comprehensive law on the handling of personal data.
In August, Google paid $23 million to settle a long-running case over giving third-parties access to user search data.
In 2022, Facebook parent company Meta settled a similar case, agreeing to pay $725 million over the handling of user data.
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Llay-Llay, Chile — Few players of the online video game Free Fire would know that one of their most ferocious opponents — a lithe, gun-wielding warrior in a short kimono and fang mask — is in reality an 81-year-old grandmother from rural Chile.
From her professional gaming chair at home in a small village, the soft-spoken Maria Elena Arevalo becomes a merciless hunter, mowing down rivals in a game in which tens of millions of players shoot it out to survive on an imaginary remote island.
Wearing an apron over a frilly skirt, Arevalo bears little resemblance to her online alter-ego “Mami Nena” — the nickname she got from her only grandson, Hector Carrasco, 20.
It was Carrasco who introduced Arevalo to the digital world of gaming that has given her a new lease on life after falling into deep loneliness following the death of her husband of 56 years in 2020.
“I didn’t even know what a mouse was,” she told AFP at her home in the town of Llay-Llay in central Chile.
“Afterwards, I got excited. We started to play whenever he [Carrasco] could. I felt better because I didn’t think so much about my late husband anymore.”
At first “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she added, but with time, she developed a taste for virtual blood.
Today, Arevalo plays at the “Heroic” level — just one short of the topmost “Grandmaster” level that only 300 players compete in.
She has 4 million followers on TikTok and 650,000 on YouTube, where she shares tips with fellow players.
Last year, she visited Mexico City on an all-expenses-paid trip as a Free Fire ambassador for the game’s anniversary celebrations — her first-ever journey abroad.
“All the kids asked me for autographs. … It was beautiful. The day I die, I’ll take that with me,” she reminisced.
Earlier this month, Arevalo was named one of Chile’s 100 most important elderly people by the El Mercurio newspaper and the Catholic University for helping break down age stereotypes.
Carrasco is in awe of his famous grandmother.
“It’s totally cool, and I don’t know, I feel like she’s like my best friend and all that,” he said.
‘I’ll keep going’
Three years after starting her Free Fire journey, Arevalo says she no longer feels lonely.
In a nod to her dead husband, a bird named “Benito” in his honor accompanies “Mami Nena” on her campaigns of conquest.
Almost half of people over 80 in Chile declare feeling lonely, according to a recent study, a major mental health risk.
Ever more older people are finding solace in gaming: a Ukrainian team known as “Young Guard” are prolific Counter Strike competitors, while 93-year-old Japanese Hamako Mori — also known by her alias Gamer Grandma — is thought to be the oldest gamer in the world.
For Arevalo, the online campaigns are becoming harder due to worsening scleroderma, a disease that causes a hardening and tightening of the skin.
But she is not planning on slowing down.
“I love doing this. I’ll keep going as far as I can,” she insisted.
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