Google Sued Over Third Party Access To Emails

Courthouse News reports:

Despite its promise to stop scanning emails for advertising purposes, Google let outside developers access and read millions of users’ private emails without consent, an Ohio man claims in a new class action.

Lead plaintiff James Coyne, of Ohio, sued the technology giant in federal court Friday night, seeking damages and injunction to stop the Alphabet-owned company from letting third parties scan Gmail users’ inboxes without permission. Last year, Google vowed to stop inspecting incoming emails for targeted advertising purposes to settle a privacy class action with Gmail users.

Despite its pledge to halt the practice, Google let hundreds of outside developers scan the inboxes of users who signed up for certain email-based services, such as trip planners or price comparisons. The third parties sift through and read emails to deliver personalized ads, according to recent reports in the Wall Street Journal and online technology blogs.