New York Times Discloses Subscriber Data Without Consent Michigan Class Action

Michigan’s Video Rental Privacy Act (VRPA) was amended as of July 30, 2016, but this class action brings suit under the earlier, unamended VRPA, for violations of the law in the earlier time period. It alleges that the New York Times Company (NYT), through third-party intermediaries like NextMark, Inc., rented or offered to rent information on its subscribers, which violated the VRPA because it included personal reading information.

The class for this action is all Michigan residents who, at any time during the pre-July 30, 2016 time period, had their private reading information disclosed to third parties by NYT without their consent.

Michigan’s VRPA originated as a way of maintaining the privacy of consumers as to the videos their bought or rented or the reading materials they bought or borrowed from libraries.

TThe complaint quotes the VRPA 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 a customer, a record or information concerning the purchase … of those materials by a customers that indicates the identity of the customer.”

According to the complaint, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recognizes that consumer data has value. It quotes the FTC as saying, “Data is currency. The larger the data set, the greater potential for analysis—and profit.”

Those profiting from all this information include data aggregators and similar entities. Companies can now combine information from multiple sources to develop “hidden dossiers” on consumers, the complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges the NYT “rents, exchanges, or otherwise discloses its customers’ information … to data aggregators, data appenders, data cooperatives, and other third parties without the written consent of its customers.”

“Data aggregation is especially troublesome when consumer information is sold to direct-mail advertisers[,]” the complaint alleges, because they “often use consumer information to lure unsuspecting consumers into various scams, including fraudulent sweepstakes, charities, and buying clubs.” Older people are often the targets of these telemarketing scams, the FTC says.

The complaint claims that consumer information disclosure is not just unlawful, but dangerous: “For example, anyone could buy a customer list provided by NYT that contains the names and addresses of all women over the age of 80 who subscribe to The New York Times and live in Detroit.” But the complaint alleges that NYT does not get the customers’ consent before it discloses their private reading material.

The complaint alleges that when consumers sign up for a NYT subscription, “NYT never required the individual to read or affirmatively agree to any terms of service, privacy policy, or information-sharing policy during the relevant pre-July 31, 2016 time period.” Thus, the complaint claims, NYT has not obtained consent from its subscribers to disclose their private reading information.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties, Your Privacy