GameStop Secretly Records, Shares Website Chat Conversations, Class Action Alleges

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GameStop faces a proposed class action that claims the video game retailer secretly “wiretaps” website visitors’ online communications through a chat feature on gamestop.com.

According to the eight-page case, GameStop uses “wiretapping software” to record each conversation consumers have with its website’s chat feature and then shares transcripts of those conversations with a third party who “publicly boasts about its ability to harvest highly personal data from chat transcripts for sales and marketing purposes.”

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The lawsuit alleges violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a state law that, among other things, prohibits website operators from transcribing visitors’ conversations, or sharing those transcripts with third parties, without the consent of all parties to a conversation.

The lawsuit says that given the nature of GameStop’s business, consumers often share “highly personal and sensitive data” when using the website’s chat feature. Per the case, users are never informed that these conversations are being transcribed and shared, and would be “shocked and appalled” to learn of GameStop’s “secret” data collection activities.

Moreover, the lawsuit claims GameStop shares website visitors’ chat interactions with Zendesk, a third party who has highlighted its apparent ability to glean “highly personal data” from transcripts, such as those disclosed by the defendant, to be used for sales and marketing purposes.

“Rather than merely providing a software service, Defendant allows Zendesk to intercept and use the secret transcripts,” the complaint alleges.

The case looks to represent anyone in California who, within the statute of limitations period, visited GameStop’s website and whose electronic communications were recorded, stored or shared by GameStop without their prior express consent.

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