Christina Spicer  |  September 7, 2015

Category: Consumer News

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Time Warner class action lawsuitOn Thursday, a class action lawsuit was filed against Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) in Wisconsin federal court alleging that the media company illegally holds private, personally identifying information about its subscribers.

Lead plaintiff Derek Gubala alleges in his class action lawsuit that Time Warner retains information, including Social Security numbers, addresses, credit card numbers and dates of birth from subscribers who have ended their contracts with the company. The plaintiff claims that Time Warner retained information he provided for services from 2004 to 2006 until 2014.

“As a rapidly expanding provider of cable services throughout the nation, Defendant TWC uses its position to collect personal information – such as names, addresses, social security numbers, and credit card numbers – from tens of millions of consumers across the country,” alleges the plaintiff in his Time Warner class action lawsuit.

The class action lawsuit alleges that Time Warner violated the Cable Communications Policy Act by holding onto former customers’ private data longer than necessary for taxes or any other purpose. The complaint also argues that the practice compromises customers’ privacy and the financial value of their data.

“In practice, TWC simply retains consumers’ [personal identifying information] indefinitely,” argues the plaintiff in his Time Warner class action lawsuit. “Moreover, ‘anonymizing’ the data does not constitute compliance with the [Cable Communications Policy].” The class action lawsuit argues that the law requires businesses to destroy personal data form consumers once it is no longer necessary.

The class action lawsuit also alleges that the ability of Time Warner customers to profit from surrendering their personal identifying information is harmed by the media giant’s practice of retaining the information. According to the class action lawsuit, Time Warner is able to sell this personally identifiable information to the multibillion-dollar industry online advertising industry. Gubala argues that consumers could choose to directly sell their information to advertisers and third parties for their own financial gain and to retain the power to control who can receive their information, but Time Warner imposes on that ability by keeping this information.

According to the Time Warner class action lawsuit, the privacy of their data is also personally valuable to consumers who wish to retain their privacy.

Gubala is seeking unspecified monetary value to the personal information that the cable companies allegedly continue to hold in their databases, according to the Time Warner class action lawsuit. Additionally, the Cable Communications Policy Act provides for recovery of actual damages from violations totaling $100 per day up to a $1,000 limit per person, says the plaintiff.

Time Warner was hit with a related class action lawsuit in June of 2012 in California federal court. The case was quickly dismissed.

Gubala is represented by Jacob E. Miota of Miota Law LLC and Joseph J. Siprut, Richard L. Miller II and Ismael T. Salam of Siprut PC.

The Time Warner Data Retention Class Action Lawsuit is Gubala v. Time Warner Cable Inc, Case No. 2:15-cv-01078 in U.S. District Court for the District of Wisconsin.

UPDATE: On Jan. 27, 2016, Time Warner Cable asked a Wisconsin federal judge to dismiss the data privacy class action lawsuit arguing that the plaintiff hasn’t suffered any harm.

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8 thoughts onTime Warner Hit With Class Action Over Data Retention

  1. crystal says:

    Please add me to this suit

  2. Matthew Haan says:

    Seeking compensation from Time Warner cable

  3. Matthew Haan says:

    From Mar 2008 to Nov 2013 I worked for twc as a field tech. I was fired for low productivity even tho I worked 10 to 14 hrs each day with numerous customer emails stating how happy They were with the quality of work I did for Them. They sent Me to trouble calls that were slotted one hour to complete but in fact typically took 4 to 6 hours or more. Each hour was given a numeric value and that value was added to generate a percentage of monthly productivity. I would often spend up to 8 hours at one house and would only receive points equivalent to one hour. Unfair and discriminatory treatment.

  4. Bryan says:

    Please add me to this lawsuit

  5. Stephen McBride says:

    Add me too!

  6. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: On Jan. 27, 2016, Time Warner Cable asked a Wisconsin federal judge to dismiss the data privacy class action lawsuit arguing that the plaintiff hasn’t suffered any harm.

  7. Jonah Baunoch says:

    Please also add myself to this suit. Thank you.

  8. Darrik Ward says:

    Please add me to this lawsuite

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