Class action against Geico alleges it secretly reported consumers' online behaviors to Google
The data was collected for for the purpose of 'data harvesting and targeted advertising,' according to the plaintiffs.
A consumer advocate has launched a putative class action against Geico, claiming the national insurer is secretly reporting to Google user information and video-watching behavior for all those who watch videos on Geico’s website.
“Visitors would be shocked and appalled to know that defendants secretly disclose to Google all of the key data regarding a visitor’s viewing habits,” the lawsuit, lodged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by plaintiff Jesse Cantu, claims.
Cantu’s lawsuit alleges that Geico uses Google Analytics to help report the ”personally identifiable information, the titles watched and more” of the viewers of Geico’s website videos for the purpose of “data harvesting and targeted advertising.”
And it claims that such surreptitious reporting of information and data, done without first getting informed, written consent from the video-watchers, violates the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988.
The act was meant to protect an individual’s privacy, and Cantu’s 12-page complaint asks for declaratory and injunctive relief, statutory damages under the VPPA, punitive damages and attorneys fees and costs for the putative class.
Cantu is a consumer privacy advocate with dual motivations for watching a video on the website, said the complaint. Cantu was genuinely interested in learning more about Geico’s goods and services, in addition to being a “tester,” who works to “ensure that companies abide by the obligations imposed by federal law.”
He is represented in the lawsuit, filed on April 25, by Todd Friedman of the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman, based in Woodland Hills, California. Meghan Killian, a partner at Duane Morris in Los Angeles, has entered an appearance on behalf of auto insurer Geico in the case.
“When plaintiff [Cantu] watched videos on the website, defendants disclosed information that allowed Google (and any ordinary person) to readily identify plaintiff’s video-watching behavior,” the complaint says at one point.
It then alleges that the “defendants did so knowingly and for the purpose of retargeting plaintiff in connection with Google advertising campaigns,” even though ”defendants did not obtain the informed, written consent of Plaintiff to disclose PII concerning plaintiff to third parties.”
It also alleges that the potential class for the lawsuit numbers in the thousands.
“While the exact number and identities of the class members are unknown to plaintiff at this time and can only be ascertained through appropriate discovery. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that the class includes thousands of members,” the complaint states.
Friedman, the attorney for Cantu, could be reached for comment Monday.
It appears he has represented Cantu in other consumer-privacy suits against other defendants, as well, based on online information.
Killian, representing Geico, also couldn’t be reached for comment.
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