ABA Journal Subscriber Information Shared Without Consent Michigan Class Action

Is it your reading material anybody else’s business? The complaint for this class action alleges that, under Michigan’s Personal Privacy Protection Act (PPPA), it is not. But it also claims that the American Bar Association (ABA) violates this law by disclosing information on subscribers to its ABA Journal to data aggregators, data cooperatives, and list brokers, without the subscribers’ consent.

The class for this action is all Michigan residents who, at any time during the pre-July 31, 2016 time period, had their Private Reading Information disclosed to third parties by ABA without their consent.

Michigan amended the PPPA, with the amendment going into effect on July 31, 2016.

The complaint quotes the PPPA as saying that a “person, or an employee or agent of the person, engaged in the business of selling at retail, renting, or lending books or other written materials … shall not disclose to any person, other than the customer, a record or information concerning the purchase … of those materials by a customer that indicates the identity of the customer.”

What proof does the complaint have that ABA shares its subscribers’ information? Page 3 of the complaint displays an image of a web page from NextMark, Inc., a list broker, offering an “American Bar Association Masterfile Mailing List” at a cost of $140 per thousand. ABA permits NextMark and/or similar entities to have its subscribers’ information, and NextMark in turns rents, discloses, or exchanges it with “aggressive advertisers, political organizations, and non-profit companies” that then use it for their own purposes. “As a result,” the complaint says, the subscribers have “received a barrage of unwanted junk mail.”

This may be more than just annoying, the complaint contends: “In addition to causing waste and inconvenience, direct-mail advertisers often use consumer information to lure unsuspecting consumers into various scams, including fraudulent sweepstakes, charities, and buying clubs.” The complaint alleges the information may be given to criminals, fraudulent telemarketers, and others who are working scams. Scammers often target the elderly, the complaint alleges, because they are often at home, may be lonely and willing to speak to strangers, and tend to have cash reserves.

The complaint alleges, “ABA does not seek its customers’ prior consent, written or otherwise, to any of these disclosures and its customers remain unaware that their Private Reading Information and other sensitive information is being rented and exchanged on the open market.” Customers can subscribe to the journal through many outlets, the complaint claims, and are never asked to agree to any information-sharing policy when they sign up.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties, Using Your Private Information Without Consent, Your Privacy