Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. publish the magazine Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. The complaint for this class action alleges that the company also shares information about its subscribers, leading to barrages of unwanted junk mail and violating Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act (PPPA).
The class for this action is all Michigan residents who, at any point during the pre-July 30, 2016 time period (after which the PPPA was amended), had their Personal Reading Information disclosed to third parties by Kiplinger without their consent.
According to the complaint, Kiplinger discloses subscriber information to data aggregators, data cooperatives, list brokers, and other such entities, which it says in turn discloses the information to “aggressive advertisers, political organizations, and non-profit companies.” The information is not necessarily sold but rented, exchanged, or otherwise shared.
How do we know this? The complaint shows a screenshot from the website of NextMark, Inc., a list broker, that offers to rent “Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Mailing List” for a base price of $145 per thousand.
The information that can be requested includes, the complaint claims, “full names, titles of publications subscribed to, and home addresses … as well as myriad other categories of individualized data and demographic information such as gender and business address[.]” Because the information is not sold but rented, exchanged, or shared, the complaint alleges, Kiplinger can share the information over and over again, with numerous third parties.
The complaint alleges “Kiplinger’s disclosure of Personal Reading Information and other individualized information is not only unlawful, but also dangerous because it allows for the targeting of particular members of society.” The complaint claims, “Information disclosures like those made by Kiplinger are particularly dangerous to the elderly.”
The disclosure is also against Michigan law, according to the complaint. It quotes Subsection 2 of the PPPA as saying, “[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 customers, a record or information concerning the purchase … of those materials by a customer that indicates the identity of the customer.”
The complaint claims that Kiplinger’s sharing of its subscribers’ information thus violates Michigan law.
According to the complaint, Kiplinger does not tell subscribers that it discloses their Personal Reading Information, nor are they offered any means of opting out of this disclosure. Thus Kiplinger, the complaint alleges, does not get the consent required from its subscribers before disclosing their information.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Kiplinger Disclosure of Personal Reading Information Michigan Complaint
December 22, 2021
Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. publish the magazine Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. The complaint for this class action alleges that the company also shares information about its subscribers, leading to barrages of unwanted junk mail and violating Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act (PPPA).
Kiplinger Disclosure of Personal Reading Information Michigan ComplaintCase Event History
Kiplinger Disclosure of Personal Reading Information Michigan Complaint
December 22, 2021
Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. publish the magazine Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. The complaint for this class action alleges that the company also shares information about its subscribers, leading to barrages of unwanted junk mail and violating Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act (PPPA).
Kiplinger Disclosure of Personal Reading Information Michigan Complaint