Gmail Class Action Suit Filed in Canada Over Privacy Concerns

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Google in British Columbia. Filed by plaintiff Wayne Plimmer, a retired resident of Sechelt, BC, with the Supreme Court of BC, the suit alleges that Google utilizes information garnered from its scanning of email on its Gmail accounts for monetary gain, specifically creating targeted ads to Gmail users off of said information.

Plimmer proposes this class action suit include the following people: “all persons in the province of British Columbia who have sent email to a Gmail account. This Class includes individuals who, by virtue of their profession or status, are obligated to maintain and protect confidentiality or privilege in respect of communications they send and includes emails between solicitor and client, physician and patient, and priest or other religious advisor and parishioner.”

The suit also alleges that Class Members “own copyright and moral rights in the emails they draft, prepare, and send in any other works attached thereto such as photographs, drawings, and sound recordings. “

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The suit, represented by Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP requests the restitution all profits benefited by Google generated from email information collection to Class Members as well as statutory damages of $500 per email for breach of copyright. Additionally, the suit requests an order for seizure, delivery and destruction of all copies of said emails in Google’s possession.

The claim requests Google to respond to the suit within 35 days. Previous suits of this nature have been filed in the US, but from the perspective of Gmail users who agree to Terms of Use to use the Gmail  service. This suit varies in the fact that it is a class action of email users from outside of Google’s services.