June 10 (Reuters) - People who accused Google of

illegally collecting their personal information, after they

chose not to synchronize their Google Chrome browsers with their

Google accounts, cannot sue the Alphabet unit as a

group in a class action, a U.S. judge ruled.

In a decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez

Rogers in Oakland, California agreed with Google that it was

appropriate to address case-by-case whether millions of Chrome

users understood and agreed to its data collection policies.

"Inquiries relating to Google's implied consent defense will

overwhelm the damages claims for all causes of action," Rogers

wrote.

She dismissed the proposed damages class action with

prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. The judge also

said Chrome users cannot seek policy changes as a group.

David Straite, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, declined to

comment on Tuesday. Sandi Knight, vice president of litigation

at Google, in a statement said the company appreciated the

decision, and that Chrome Sync has "clear privacy controls."

Class actions let plaintiffs seek potentially greater

recoveries at lower cost than they could in individual lawsuits.

The decision followed a ruling last August by the federal

appeals court in San Francisco, which said Rogers should

consider whether reasonable Chrome users consented to letting

Google collect their data when they browsed online.

Chrome users pointed to Chrome's privacy notice, which said

they "don't need to provide any personal information to use

Chrome" and Google would not collect such information unless

they turned on the "sync" function.

Rogers had dismissed the case in December 2022. She said she

oversees two other privacy cases against Mountain View,

California-based Google, but the claims in those cases differed

"significantly."

The appeals court ruling followed Google's 2023 agreement to

destroy billions of records to settle a lawsuit claiming it

tracked people who thought they were browsing privately,

including in Chrome's "Incognito" mode.

The case is Calhoun et al v Google LLC, 9th U.S. Circuit

Court of Appeals, No. 22-16993.