Netflix Hit with Another Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

Netflix (NFLX) has been hit with another class action lawsuit concerning its policy of retaining the rental history and video preferences of former members long after they’ve canceled their subscriptions.

Plaintiff Peter Comstock filed the Netflix class action lawsuit in California federal court, claiming the online video rental service is violating the Video Privacy Protection Act by keeping all the information it collects from its users “indefinitely,” even after they cancel their accounts. In addition to the names, addresses and credit card information of former users, Netflix retains their complete rental histories, ratings given to movies rented and lists of movies to be rented, the class action lawsuit says.

Under Section 2710(e), the law requires video rental businesses to destroy their customers’ rental histories no later than one year “from the date the information is no longer necessary for the purpose it was collected.”  The class action lawsuit alleges Netflix retains the information far beyond the one-year limit.

”Subscribers do not realize that Netflix maintains this video-viewing information, along with confidential subscriber payment information, … in its databases long after subscribers cancel their Netflix subscription,” the complaint says.

The Netflix class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of all former Netflix subscribers who canceled their accounts more than one year ago. In addition to class certification, Comstock is seeking damages of $2,500 per violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act and $3,000 per violation of California’s Customer Records Act, costs, injunctive relief, and attorney fees.

The case is Comstock et al. v. Netflix Inc., No. 11-CV-1218-HRL, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. You can read the previous Netflix privacy class action lawsuit here.