A California federal judge has ruled that plaintiffs who accused Alphabet Inc’s Google of illegally tracking their internet use while in “Incognito” browsing mode in Chrome browser can question Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai for up to two hours.
Users accused Google of illegally breaching their privacy by tracking internet activity while Google Chrome browsers were switched to “private” mode, in a lawsuit filed in June 2020.
According to a Monday court filing, the plaintiffs argued that Pichai has “unique, personal knowledge” of issues connected to the Chrome browser and privacy concerns.
The new requests, according to Google spokesman Jose Castaneda, are “unwarranted and overreaching”.
Castaneda said “While we strongly dispute the claims in this case, we have cooperated with plaintiffs’ countless requests… We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves,”
According to a court filing in September, Pichai was warned in 2019 that referring to the company’s Incognito browsing mode as “private” was inappropriate, but he persisted because he did not want the feature “under the spotlight.”
US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen of San Jose, California, said in her order on Monday that “a few documents establish that specific relevant information was communicated to, and possibly from, Pichai,” and so backed the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ request to question him.
Incognito only prevents data from being saved on a user’s device, according to Google, which is fighting the lawsuit.
In recent years, amid increased public concerns about online spying, the Alphabet unit’s privacy disclosures have drawn regulatory and judicial scrutiny.