USNews.com Unlawfully Captures Visitor Data via Web-Tracking Tech, Class Action Claims
Gabrielli v. U.S. News & World Report, L.P.
Filed: March 5, 2024 ◆§ 1:24-cv-01685
A proposed class action lawsuit alleges USNews.com uses web-tracking software to capture visitors’ personal information without consent.
New York
A proposed class action lawsuit alleges USNews.com uses web-tracking software to capture visitors’ personal information without consent.
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According to the 36-page lawsuit, defendant U.S. News & World Report has unlawfully incorporated “pen register” technology on its website that surreptitiously collects a visitor’s IP address, which is a unique identifier that can be used to learn the geographic location of their device.
When a user visits USNews.com, several tracking codes provided by third-party software companies are automatically installed on the consumer’s browser, the suit claims. Per the case, the web-tracking tools share the visitor’s IP address with the respective third parties each time the individual accesses the website. The software companies then use the personally identifiable data to provide targeted marketing and website analytics services to the defendant, the complaint says.
The filing claims that because the trackers capture users’ “routing, addressing, or signaling information,” the technology constitutes a “pen register” under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a state law that was enacted to protect consumers’ privacy rights.
Under the CIPA, entities such as the defendant are prohibited from installing and using such software without first acquiring prior consent from users and a court order, the suit shares. As the case tells it, the company failed to fulfill either of these CIPA requirements before incorporating the tracking technology on USNews.com.
The lawsuit looks to represent any California residents who accessed USNews.com while in the state and had their IP address collected by any of the website’s tracking tools.
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