PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island pension fund is taking legal action against the parent company of internet giant Google, alleging that company leaders hid privacy breaches that compromised personal information of millions of users.
“Google had an obligation to tell its users and investors that private information wasn’t being protected,” R.I. General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said in a statement.
“Instead, Google executives decided to hide the breaches from its users and continued to mislead investors and federal regulators,” he said. “This is an unconscionable violation of public trust by Google, and we are seeking financial restitution on behalf of the Rhode Island pension fund and other investors.”
The Rhode Island pension fund recently filed a court motion in California to lead a class-action lawsuit against Google parent company Alphabet Inc. The motion can be viewed at: www.treasury.ri.gov/AlphabetLitigation.
The underlying case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It accuses the company of misleading shareholders and federal regulators when they failed to disclose ongoing breaches in private user information from its social media platform, Google+.
In October, Google announced it was shutting down the platform after whistleblowers came forward with claims the company had hidden vulnerabilities in its security measures. The company later announced that personal information of 52.5 million users had been compromised.
In October, the complaint notes, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google discovered in March a software glitch in its Google+ social network that had exposed users’ personal data to third parties but “opted not to disclose the issue … in part because of fears that doing so would draw regulatory scrutiny and cause reputational damage.”
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.
