Hearst Sale of Magazine Subscriber Information California Class Action

Hearst Communications, Inc. sells mailing lists that this class action alleges contain subscribers’ “names and likenesses, along with other highly sensitive personal information…” It sells this information to parties like data aggregators, list brokers, and “aggressive marketing companies,” says the complaint. The complaint calls this a monetization of subscribers’ names and likenesses, which violates California’s Right of Publicity Law (CRPL).

The class for this action is all California residents who, at any point in the applicable statutory period, had their names on or in a mailing list sold by or on behalf of Hearst.

The plaintiff in this case subscribes to a Hearst publication, the magazine Esquire. Hearst sells a list entitled “Esquire Mailing List.” It contains the names and addresses of subscribers to the magazine “as well as myriad other personally identifying attributes and demographic information such as gender, age, ethnicity, income, political party, religion, and charitable donation history” of each, for which it charges a base price of “$115.00/M” (per thousand), or 11.5 cents each.

How do we know this? Page 2 of the complaint a screenshot of the offer at the list broker NextMark, Inc., under the title “Esquire Mailing List.” The complaint alleges that the subscriber information Hearst sells is not limited to this Esquire list. It also sells subscriber information from other Hearst publications, the complaint alleges, as well as a “Hearst Corporate Masterfile & Enhanced Mailing List.” A screenshot of the offer of this Corporate Masterfile is shown on page 3 of the complaint.

These mailing lists are sold without the consent of the subscribers whose information is being sold.

The complaint quotes the CRPL as saying, “Any person who knowingly uses another’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods or services, without such person’s prior consent … shall be liable for any damages sustained by the person or persons injured as a result thereof.”

The complaint asserts, “Hearst directly violated the CRPL by knowingly using [its subscribers’] names and likenesses ‘on or in’ the subscriber mailing lists that it sells—i.e., ‘products, merchandise, or goods’—without any of these individuals’ prior consent.” In this way, it claims, Hearst has deprived subscribers of their right of privacy by surreptitiously selling the mailing lists containing their information.

This practice of selling personal information is not just unlawful but dangerous, the complaint alleges, because it allows those who buy the data to target certain subscribers.

“For example,” the complaint says, “anyone could buy a customer list provided by Hearst that contains the names and addresses of all Hispanic women over the age of 50 who live in Sacramento, California, earn over $100,000 per year, belong to the Republican party, and subscribe to Esquire magazine.” That list, with all its specifics, the complaint claims, can be bought for around $201 per thousand subscribers.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Right of Publicity, Your Privacy