The plaintiffs are seeking payouts for millions of Gmail users. The financial damages would amount to $100 per day of each day of violation for every individual who sent or received an email message using Google Apps for Education during a two-year period beginning in May 2011.
So assuming at least 1 million users, they are seeking:
1,000,000 users * $100 per user * 365 days per year * 2 years = ~ $73 billion in damages.
I'm not commenting on whether data-mining on Google's part was right or wrong, but why isn't there any limit to the amount that companies can be sued for?
It seems impractical for the people suing to sue for around 73 billion dollars when the product/service is essentially free.
So assuming at least 1 million users, they are seeking:
1,000,000 users * $100 per user * 365 days per year * 2 years = ~ $73 billion in damages.
I'm not commenting on whether data-mining on Google's part was right or wrong, but why isn't there any limit to the amount that companies can be sued for?
It seems impractical for the people suing to sue for around 73 billion dollars when the product/service is essentially free.