Footwear Retailer Aetrex Illegally Shares Website Users’ Private Data with TikTok, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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Aetrex faces a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the footwear retailer shares website visitors’ personally identifying information with TikTok without consent.

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According to the eight-page privacy lawsuit, the company uses sophisticated tracking software provided by TikTok to record a visitor’s interactions on Aetrex.com and capture personal data such as their location, phone number, email address and certain details about their device and browser. Per the case, the software begins to harvest data as soon as a visitor lands on the website and “before any pop-up or cookie banner advises users of the invasion or seeks their consent.”

The “invasive” TikTok tracking technology can pinpoint an individual’s identity through a process called “fingerprinting,” the suit relays.

“Put simply, the TikTok software collects as much data as it can about an otherwise anonymous visitor to the website and matches it with existing data TikTok has acquired and accumulated about hundreds of millions of Americans,” the complaint says.

The filing claims the retailer does not disclose its use of tracking tools to consumers, nor does it obtain authorization before sharing users’ private information with the social media giant, as required by law.

The lawsuit against Aetrex further charges that the company has violated a California law that bans the use of a “trap and trace device”—that is, a tool or process used to identify the source of incoming electronic communications—without first getting a court order.

The lawsuit looks to represent any California residents whose personal information was shared with TikTok or other third parties by Aetrex without their effective and informed prior consent.

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