Class Action Accuses Uniqlo of ‘Wiretapping’ Private Chat Conversations

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A proposed class action claims that Uniqlo secretly wiretaps private conversations held in the chat feature on its website.

According to the nine-page case, the retailer has failed to obtain consumers’ consent before sharing their chat conversations with third parties for financial gain. The complaint alleges Uniqlo has run afoul of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a state law which requires all parties involved in an electronic communication to consent to have it wiretapped or eavesdropped upon.

By embedding code into its online chat feature, Uniqlo allows third parties, namely SalesForce and/or LivePerson, who provide the retailer’s chat technology, to “secretly intercept in real time, eavesdrop upon, and store transcripts” of its of chat communications with unsuspecting website visitors, “even when such conversations are private and deeply personal,” the case contends.

Recording chat conversations is a profitable and sought-after practice, the lawsuit claims. According to one industry expert, “[l]ive chat transcripts are the gold mines of customer service” given a company can have at its fingertips “valuable customer insight to make informed business decisions.”

The case argues that however enriching wiretapping might for Uniqlo, consumers would be “shocked and appalled” at the invasion of privacy.

The lawsuit looks to represent California residents who communicated with Uniqlo using the chat feature on its website and had their communications recorded and/or eavesdropped upon without prior consent during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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