Publishers Clearing House Making Money from Purchaser Info California Class Action

How does Publishers Clearing House, Inc. (PCH) make its money? The complaint for this class action alleges that it makes at least some of it through selling or renting mailing lists containing subscriber information, including names, addresses, gender, information about products purchased, and other Personal Identifying Transactional Data. It sells this information to data aggregators, data cooperatives, list brokers, aggressive marketing companies, and others.

The class for this action is all California residents who, at any point during the applicable statute of limitations period, had their names appear on or in a mailing list sold, rented, or offered for sale or rental, by PCH.

The complaint alleges that PCH sells its subscribers’ information to data aggregators, data cooperatives, list brokers, aggressive marketing companies, and others.

What evidence does the complaint offer for its allegations? The complaint includes a screenshot from NextMark, Inc.’s website of a Publishers Clearing House Merchandise Buyers Mailing List, offered for sale at a base price of $100 per thousand. Additional information can be ordered, according to things like gender, “multi-buyer” status, and dollar amounts of purchases.

The complaint alleges that this kind of information offer is prohibited under the California Right of Publicity Law (CRPL). According to the complaint, “Generally speaking, the CRPL prohibits using a person’s name or likeness on or in connection with a product, good, piece of merchandise, or [] service without the person’s prior consent.” The complaint finds PCH’s selling and renting of its subscribers’ information on the open market to be a violation of this law.

This practice of monetizing customer information is not just unlawful, the complaint says; it’s also dangerous, because it allows anyone with the price of the list to target “vulnerable members of society.” “For example,” the complaint alleges, “anyone could buy or rent a list that contains the names, addresses, and other Personal Identifying Transactional Data of all women in California who purchased over $20 worth of children’s books from PCH in the past three months. Such a list is available for sale or rental on the open market…”

PCH does not get its customers consent before selling their information, the complaint contends: “PCH uniformly fails to obtain consent from—or even provide effective notice to—its customers before engaging in the practices described herein.” In fact, many customers are completely unaware that PCH is earning money by sharing their information.

The complaint alleges that the plaintiff in this case, Thomas Green, suffered mental anguish “[u]pon learning that his name, likeness, and other personal details were being trafficked by PCH on the open market for its own financial gain, resulting in, inter alia, disclosures of his purchasing habits and the proliferation of other highly sensitive and intimate personal details about him to anyone interested in purchasing its lists (including aggressive advertisers, marketing companies, possible scammers, and other parties)…”

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