Target Secretly Embedded Spyware in Marketing Emails, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Target has surreptitiously embedded tracking technology into its marketing emails to collect recipients’ personal data without their knowledge.

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The 19-page privacy lawsuit accuses the retailer of integrating tracking tools known as “spy pixels” into its promotional emails to secretly capture information about consumers as soon as they open the email. The suit alleges that Target has run afoul of an Arizona privacy law by collecting residents’ email data without first obtaining their authorization.

According to the case, Target intercepts consumer data through its own spy pixels, as well as through trackers provided by Scene 7, a subsidiary of Adobe, that are hidden within email images.

The complaint shares that when a consumer opens a promotional email from Target, the tracking tools automatically record information about the device the recipient used, their IP address, when and where they opened the message, how long they spent reading it, to whom it may have been forwarded, and other sensitive data.

The plaintiff, a Phoenix resident, says he has often opened Target’s marketing emails in the past few years. By doing so, the man had his private information captured by the embedded tracking technology without his knowledge or consent, the filing contends.

The case charges that Target’s “invasive surveillance” of consumers’ confidential email records has breached the plaintiff’s and other Arizona residents’ protected privacy rights.

The lawsuit looks to represent any Arizona residents who have opened a marketing email from Target containing a tracking pixel.

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