Google faces multibillion-pound lawsuit from UK consumers

65 million UK users over 16?

I don't think there's 65 million people in the UK over 16.

I look forward to being offered £1.47 of the multi billion dollar victory; calculated as an equal share for all parties*

* after costs, performance fees, shareholder bonuses, litigator yacht private jet and helicopter parking fee(s), distribution cost, and £99 payment processing fee.

It’s not scary, at least not in the United States:*

Litigating class actions is quite expensive. The for-profit nature is by design: it’s the potential for a large fee award that incentivizes class counsel to pursue these claims.

The individual claims are typically too small or speculative for individuals to spend money hiring lawyers of their own. Without this system, there would effectively be very little incentive for companies to refrain from violating large numbers of people in small ways. You might think this is the job of the government, but consider the resources it would take to effectively police every company sticking its hands into every one of the billions of cookie jars that exist. The fact is, governments can’t and don’t pursue most civil violations. Class actions are a kind of “market-based” solution. While imperfect, they do serve an important function.

And of course, you can always opt out if you want to sue on your own (or you just want the company to get away with it?).

__ * I don’t know the specifics of class action law in the UK, but I suspect both countries’ laws are undergirded by similar policy motives.

The ridiculous thing is that the Britons didn’t do that but a “litigation fund” filed the lawsuit “on behalf of every U.K. consumer”. I wonder whether the company had asked anybody in the U.K. about their stance on this matter.