Carhartt Recorded Web User Data Without Consent, Class Action Alleges

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Carhartt faces a proposed class action that claims the apparel company tracked, recorded, and stored without consent the online communications of website visitors. 

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According to the 24-page complaint, Carhartt utilized web-tracking software to capture the communications of Carhartt.com visitors, with the technology enabling the retailer to monitor users’ movements in real-time and store the data for playback. The tracking software used by the defendant is more powerful than normal website cookies or analytics tools because it can intercept and transmit a user’s every interaction with a web page, the lawsuit explains.

In spite of users’ reasonable expectation of privacy, Carhartt “intentionally” tapped visitors’ electronic communications without consent, the suit charges. The spyware technology at issue allows the defendant to observe and record movements on the page “as if someone is looking over Plaintiff’s or a Class Members’ shoulder with a camera set to record,” the case says.

The use of “session replay” spyware allows the company to monitor and record all user interactions with its site, including cursor movements, keystrokes, search requests, content viewed, and any information entered onto a page, the complaint relays. In short, the spyware enables Carhartt to observe the entirety of a user’s visit to its website in real-time, the filing adds.

Per the lawsuit, the purpose of “session replay” technology, like the kind allegedly used by the defendant and provided by Quantum Metric or another third party, is to keep tabs on how a website itself operates. The suit contends, however, that the sheer amount of information intercepted from visitors to the site indicates that the goal of using the software was in fact to gain insight into consumers’ preferences and habits for commercial gain.

Like other users of Carhartt.com, the plaintiff, a resident of San Diego, reasonably assumed that his visit to site would be private, in large part because he was not given any chance to consent to the online monitoring, the case claims.

Further, aside from alleged legal violations and invasion of privacy, the storage of visitors’ communications also puts their personal information at risk of exposure to third parties, the complaint stresses.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who visited Carhartt.com and whose online communications were intercepted and/or recorded without consent.

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