Class Action: Calif. Residents’ Info Illegally Used to Advertise Subscriptions to Cognism.com, Kaspr.io

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Cognism Inc. has unlawfully used California residents’ personal information to advertise subscriptions to Cognism.com and Kaspr.io.

According to the 31-page suit, the websites are subscription-based prospecting tools that provide business-to-business salespeople and marketers with access to the contact information of millions of professionals for lead generation purposes. 

The case alleges that although consumers may have shared their names, personal information, contact details and job histories in a variety of contexts, such as on their employers’ websites or professional networking sites like LinkedIn, they have not provided Cognism with consent to extract their contact details from email signature blocks and use it for commercial purposes.

The plaintiff, a California resident who allegedly has no relationship with Cognism, says he was “seriously distressed” to find out that the defendant was using his name, personal information and persona to advertise subscriptions to Cognism.com and Kaspr.io.

Per the case, the defendant’s use of the plaintiff’s and other consumers’ information without consent “is an alarming invasion of [their] privacy” and could expose them to identity theft, fraud and “harassing marketing and sales communications.”

Cognism advertises subscriptions to its website by displaying profiles containing consumers’ names, contact information, job titles, places of work, location and other personal information, sometimes alongside their photographs, the suit relays. Per the case, those who sign up for free trials of Cognism.com receive access to the defendant’s searchable database for a limited time, usually 48 hours, and are told after the expiration of their free trial that they must purchase a subscription, which can cost more than $10,000 per year, to continue receiving access to Cognism’s data and certain premium features unavailable with a free trial.

According to the suit, Cognism also advertises subscriptions by providing “25 free leads” to prospective customers, which allows them to view 25 profiles containing professionals’ names, contact details and other personal information.

Per the suit, Cognism builds the profiles in its database from “community-sourced data” obtained by installing on subscribers’ computers software that scrapes data from the signature blocks of intercepted emails.

“Thus, when a non-Cognism subscriber sends an email to, or receives an email from, a Cognism subscriber, the contents of that email are captured, intercepted, stored, and read by Cognism without the non-Cognism subscriber’s knowledge or consent,” the complaint alleges.

The suit adds that Cognism’s other prospecting tool, Kaspr.io, is a browser extension that allows users to view additional contact information for the people they search for on LinkedIn, even when a person has not chosen to include that information in their profile. Per the complaint, the defendant advertises Kaspr.io subscriptions, which cost 30 euros or more per month, by offering potential subscribers five free “credits” that can be “spent” on access to a person’s phone number, email or other information.

The lawsuit says the personal information Cognism uses to advertise its products has commercial value and has been exploited by the company for financial gain without the owners’ knowledge or consent.

The plaintiff alleges that anyone who signs up for a free trial or free credits with Cognism can access his information without paying for a subscription, even though the man has no relationship with the company and no interest in promoting its products.

The plaintiff seeks to represent current and former California residents who are not subscribers of Cognism.com, and those who are not subscribers of Kaspr.io but have a LinkedIn profile, and whose names and personal information were used by Cognism to promote its subscriptions.

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