POSTED BY Edwin Batista on October 4, 2013

On September 26, 2013  a San Jose Judge held that Internet communications are subject to the same privacy laws that are currently present in society.  The judge  rejected Google’s argument that you must sacrifice your privacy to send Gmails.  In effect, California has set a new precedent that will likely affect the way Internet-based companies conduct business.

The suit claims Google violates federal and state wiretap laws when the company reads emails to determine what ads to serve based on the message’s content.   Google responded by arguing that consumers cannot expect privacy when sending a message to a Gmail address.  Plaintiffs countered by arguing that Google exploits the content of e-mail messages “for its own benefit unrelated to the service of e-mail,” and for its own profit.  Judge Lucy H. Koh found that California’s Invasion of Privacy Laws apply to Gmail because reading emails was not a necessary  part of Google’s business operations and because Judge Koh found that California’s Privacy laws apply to  opening and reading online  communications without consumers’ consent.

Although Google’s lawyers will most certainly challenge this ruling, this decision represents a big victory for consumers.  This decision makes it clear that  courts will not exempt Google from following laws aimed at protecting  consumers. More importantly this decisions will provide guidance to other courts to follow in ensuring that wealthy Internet-based firms  are not able to take advantage of consumers because the current laws  do not take new technology into consideration.