FTC asks court to toss privacy group’s Google lawsuit

{mosads}But in its filing with the court, the FTC said it has discretion over whether or not to take action against a company and that EPIC cannot force it to step in against Google.

The motion argued that EPIC’s suit is “so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.”

In its reply, filed Tuesday, EPIC claimed that past court decisions show that the FTC’s decision is subject to review by the courts.

EPIC is trying to fast-track the case to prevent the rollout of the privacy changes, which is scheduled for March 1. Under the new rules, Google will be allowed to share user information between its various services. For example, users could begin seeing ads in Gmail based on the videos they watch on YouTube.

The FTC’s motion to dismiss EPIC’s lawsuit does not rule out the possibility that the agency will take action against Google for the changes.