Google Is Either Lying To The Court Or To The Public, Consumer Watchdog Says

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Google is either lying to the court or lying to the public, Consumer Watchdog said today, after the Internet giant made new public claims asserting it respects users' privacy that contradicted an earlier court filing it made. Google said in a court filing that there was no legitimate expectation of privacy when emails were sent to its system.

If what Google claimed publicly in response to a news release from Consumer Watchdog is true, then Google must amend the court filing and stop reading and analyzing the content of emails sent to its system, Consumer Watchdog said.

"Google simply cannot be allowed to have it both ways, saying whatever suits them at the moment," said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director.

On Wednesday Google claimed in response to Consumer Watchdog:

"We take our users' privacy and security very seriously; recent reports claiming otherwise are simply untrue. We have built industry-leading security and privacy features into Gmail — and no matter who sends an email to a Gmail user, those protections apply."

Google's motion to dismiss a class action suit made this obviously contradictory claim:

"Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's [email provider] in the course of delivery. Indeed, 'a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.' Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44 (1979)"  [Motion to dismiss, Page 19]


Read Google's motion to dismiss here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/googlemotion061313.pdf

"If they take privacy seriously, then they must amend their brief and stop reading and analyzing the content of email we send to their system," said Simpson.  "If Google stands by the claim of no expectation of privacy it asserted in the court filing, they cannot claim to respect users' privacy. These two claims are obviously incompatible."

Google made the statement that people can't expect privacy when sending a message to a Gmail address in a response to a class action complaint filed in multi-district litigation. The suit says Google violates federal and state wiretap laws when the company reads and analyzes emails.

The class action complaint was filed under seal because it details many of Google's business practices about the way it handles email. 
A highly redacted version of the complaint was filed publicly.  Read it here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/gmailcomplaint051613.pdf



A hearing in the case, In re Google Inc. Gmail Litigation, Case No. 5:13-md-02430-LHK, will be held before Judge Lucy H. Koh in U.S. District Court in San Jose, CA. at 1:30 p.m., Sept. 5.

"Google's brief uses a wrong-headed analogy; sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office," said Simpson.  "I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope.  I don't expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it.  Similarly when I send an email, I expect it to be delivered to the intended recipient with a Gmail account based on the email address; why would I expect its content will be intercepted by Google and read?"


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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog