UK court blocks mass privacy action against Google on alleged iPhone breach

A British court has blocked a suit against Google on allegations that it had collected personal data on some 4 million iPhone users Britain's High Court was ruling Monday on whether a mass legal action could proceed against the internet giant for allegedly collecting sensitive information from some 4.4 million iPhone users.

The legal challenge claimed Google had bypassed privacy settings on the iPhones between August 2011 and February 2012 to scoop up data for advertisers.

The suit by campaign group Google You Owe Us hoped to win 1 billion pounds (USD 1.3 billion) in compensation.

A lawyer for the campaign group told Judge Mark Warby that the activity was exposed by a PhD researcher in 2012 and Google has already paid millions to settle claims in the United States.