Nationwide Illegally Records Website Visitors’ Electronic Communications, Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. has “secretly deployed” tracking software on its website to record visitors’ electronic communications without their knowledge or consent.

According to the seven-page suit, the insurer uses keystroke monitoring and chatbot software on Nationwide.com to capture consumers’ interactions with the website yet fails to notify site visitors or obtain their consent to this “illegal wiretapping.”

The lawsuit claims Nationwide has run afoul of the California Invasion of Privacy Act.

Per the suit, software on Nationwide.com allows the defendant to “surreptitiously record every aspect of a visitor’s interaction with the Website,” including their keystrokes, mouse clicks, data entry and other electronic communications.

“Defendant’s actions amount to the digital equivalent of both looking over a consumer’s shoulder and eavesdropping on a consumer’s conversation,” the complaint scathes, claiming this conduct is both “illegal” and “offensive.”

Moreover, the website also has a chatbot feature that, according to the suit, “convincingly impersonates an actual human that encourages consumers to share their personal information.” When a site visitor interacts with the chatbot, the defendant “records and stores the entire conversation” without the individual’s knowledge or consent, the lawsuit alleges.

The case goes on to claim that since both the chatbot feature and the replay technology used on Nationwide.com are licensed from third parties, the defendant regularly shares the information it collects through the software with those outside entities.

The plaintiff in the case is a California consumer who says she visited Nationwide.com within the past year and was unaware of and did not consent to the secret monitoring, recording and sharing of her electronic communications.

The suit looks to represent anyone in California who, within the past year, visited Nationwide.com and whose electronic communications were caused to be intercepted, recorded or monitored by Nationwide without prior consent.

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