Class Action Claims StateRecords.org Unlawfully Used Consumers’ Identities to Advertise Paid Subscriptions

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A proposed class action claims the operators of StateRecords.org have violated privacy laws in three states by using residents’ identities for commercial purposes without their consent.

The 18-page lawsuit more specifically alleges defendants InfoPay, Inc. and Intermedia Ventures LLC have unlawfully used the identifying information, including names, locations and ages, of Ohio, Illinois and Indiana residents to advertise paid subscriptions to a database on StateRecords.org that purportedly contains “government-generated records from public sources” on any individual.

According to the suit, this conduct violates the respective Ohio, Illinois and Indiana Right of Publicity Acts, which prohibit in each state the unauthorized use of a resident’s attributes, including their name, signature, photograph, image, likeness or voice, for the sale or advertisement of goods, merchandise, products and services.

The lawsuit claims the defendants market their services by allowing potential customers to perform a free “people search” on StateRecords.org. After typing an individual’s name into the search bar, the website visitor is shown a preview page that displays the searched person’s name and other identifying information, such as their current location, previous locations, age and the number of government-generated records associated with them, the case relays.

Rather than offer to sell the website visitor access to the searched person’s records, the defendants, according to the complaint, advertise instead a paid subscription to access StateRecords.org’s entire database of government records, which the suit says also includes arrest/warrant records, criminal records, court records, marriage records, bankruptcies, liens, lawsuits and police reports.

“In other words, Defendants do not offer to sell information about the individuals searched on their website, but rather, use their identities to sell subscriptions to their paid service,” the lawsuit specifies.

The case claims, however, that the individuals whose personal details are displayed in the defendants’ free people search results have not provided consent for their information to be used for commercial purposes. Per the suit, the defendants neither notified these individuals that their names and other identifying information would appear on StateRecords.org’s marketing page, nor requested permission to use their information. In fact, the case says the plaintiffs and proposed class members “have no relationship with StateRecords whatsoever.”

The lawsuit looks to represent Ohio, Illinois and Indiana residents whose identities were displayed on StateRecords’ marketing page and who have never purchased any products or services on StateRecords.org.

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