2-node-supercomputer.net 2020-08-10
So… Google fucked up. Their dying, now dead, social media platform called Google+ had a data breach back when it was still alive.
Crafty lawyers make loads of money off a lawsuit like this, to the tune of about $1,800,000, split among six lawyers. That is about $300,000 per lawyer and their secretary.
Compare that to about $1,500 for the four class representatives.
Compare that to a maximum of $5 to $12 per class-action member.
Is it good or is it bad?
On the one hand, only the law firms are benefitting from this directly. It appears a waste of resources that could have been spent on more fruitful endeavours. Did Google become a victim of a legal troll? In this view, the data breach was too small to warrant any kind of action, and $5-$12 dollars per person already seems high to me.
On the other hand, in the email Google sent around, the links to the class-action website are rather peculiar. They don’t directly point to the class-action website, instead pointing to a google.com address that redirects to the website. That seems odd, but perhaps can be explained by Google wanting to know who clicks on those links. And why not? I don’t blame them. However, can Google use that against me now? At best, I can no longer claim to have been unaware. At worst, they may cancel my Google account. Google wont forget this. It paints a poor picture onto Google. In any case, does this mean Google cares about the law suit? It knows what it did…
Further on this point, the longer-term implications of such a lawsuit could be useful to society. The lawyers as the enforcers of privacy law. Doesn’t sound too bad.
What do you think?