"Google faces UK suit over alleged snooping on iPhone users", 30 Nov 2017

Google illegally gathered the personal data of millions of iPhone users in the UK, according to a collective lawsuit led by a former director of the consumer group Which?... [C]onsumer rights campaigner[s], allege the technology company bypassed the default privacy settings on Apple phones and succeeded in tracking the online behaviour of people using the Safari browser. Google then allegedly used the data in its DoubleClick advertising business... The lawsuit, filed in London’s High Court, alleges Google’s tactic, known as “the Safari Workaround”, breached the UK Data Protection Act by taking personal information without permission... Google said: “This is not new — we have defended similar cases before. We don’t believe it has any merit and we will contest it.” [...] The case will be closely watched by consumer groups and data protection lawyers, with the control, use and security of personal information coming under increasing scrutiny. In addition, new regulations coming into force across the EU next year include a provision for anyone whose data has been misused to instruct consumer protection groups to bring claims on their behalf.