The Nemours Foundation offers websites and an app in connection with its Nemours Children’s Health services. But the complaint alleges that Nemours helps Facebook (or Meta) to intercept patients’ private communications with the websites and app, including some that include personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) without the patients’ knowledge or consent, in violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.
The Nationwide Class for this action is all natural persons in the US who are or were patients of Nemours Children’s Health System or any of its affiliates, and who accessed the Nemours app or a Nemours website and whose PII or PHI was transmitted to Facebook. A Pennsylvania Subclass has also been defined for all those in the above class in Pennsylvania.
The Nemours websites and app can be used by patients or consumers to make appointments, access medical records, or fill out medical questionnaires. Patients therefore may transmit private information through these means.
Facebook sells advertising space, touting its ability to target users who might be more receptive to particular ads. It puts information together into a dataset called Core Audiences, the complaint alleges, which advertisers can draw on to find good targets for their advertising. It also allows advertisers to build Custom Audiences (from people who have used a company’s services or visited its website) or Lookalike Audiences that have similar characteristics to a Custom Audience, the complaint claims.
In order to build Custom or Core Audiences, the complaint says, Facebook needs to receive information about the company’s customers or website visitors. One way this can be done, the complaint alleges, is through the installation of the Facebook Tracking Pixel on the company’s website. The complaint describes the pixel as embedded code that tracks the actions visitors take at a website and transmits the information to Facebook. Facebook then processes and analyzes the information, the complaint claims, and integrates it into datasets like Core and Custom Audiences.
This means, the complaint alleges, that when patients use the Nemours website, Facebook receives information that can reveal their medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments.
The complaint claims, “An investigation by The Markup revealed that thirty-three of the top 100 hospitals in the United States … have the Facebook Tracking Pixel embedded on the appointment schedule pages of their websites, among other possible places. The Nemours Website is one of the identified websites.”
According to the investigation, the complaint says, the information is connected to the IP address of the person’s computer, or, if the person has Facebook open at the time, to the person’s Facebook account, so that the person is identifiable.
The complaint alleges that this interception, collection, disclosure, and use of private information, without the knowledge and authorization of the patients or website visitors, violates the Pennsylvania law against wiretapping.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
Nemours Foundation Patient Communication Wiretapping Complaint
February 10, 2023
The Nemours Foundation offers websites and an app in connection with its Nemours Children’s Health services. But the complaint alleges that Nemours helps Facebook (or Meta) to intercept patients’ private communications with the websites and app, including some that include personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) without the patients’ knowledge or consent, in violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.
Nemours Foundation Patient Communication Wiretapping ComplaintCase Event History
Nemours Foundation Patient Communication Wiretapping Complaint
February 10, 2023
The Nemours Foundation offers websites and an app in connection with its Nemours Children’s Health services. But the complaint alleges that Nemours helps Facebook (or Meta) to intercept patients’ private communications with the websites and app, including some that include personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) without the patients’ knowledge or consent, in violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.
Nemours Foundation Patient Communication Wiretapping Complaint