WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is struggling over what to do about an $8.5 million class-action settlement involving Google and privacy concerns in which all the money went to lawyers and nonprofit groups and nothing was paid to 129 million people who used Google to perform internet searches.
The justices on Wednesday considered objections to the settlement in a case involving Google searches people do about themselves. The lawsuit argues that Google sends website operators potentially identifying information when someone clicks on a link produced by a search. The suit says the practice violates users’ privacy under federal law.
The issue at the court concerns the rare instances in which courts approve a settlement and find it’s impractical to send money to the very large class of affected people.