CNN, Cartoon Network Apps Attract Privacy Class Action Lawsuits

CNN and the Cartoon Network have both been hit with class action lawsuits alleging that their smartphone apps violate user privacy by disclosing customer information to third parties without consent.

“Unbeknownst to its users, each time users read news stories or view video clips using the CNN App on their iPhones, CNN discloses their personally identifiable information — including a record of every news story, video clip, and headline viewed by each user — to unrelated third parties,” the class action lawsuit against CNN says.

The Cartoon Network class action lawsuit makes the same allegation about those who use Android-based smartphones.

The smartphone app privacy class action lawsuits against the two cable television networks claim that these practices violate their customers’ privacy rights according to the Video Privacy Protection Act “which prohibits companies from disclosing their customers’ video viewing record to third parties without express written consent.”

The class action lawsuits claim that the information gathered by the television networks is used by third-party data analytics companies to create “comprehensive profiles about a person’s entire digital life,” which are used for marketing purposes and sold to other data brokers, in some cases.

“In an era when the collection and monetization of consumer data proliferates on an unprecedented scale, it’s important that companies are held accountable for the exploitation of their users’ sensitive information,” the Cartoon Network app class action lawsuit says.

The Cartoon Network class action was filed by North Carolina resident Mark Ellis, who said he downloaded the Cartoon Network app and at no time was asked to consent or agree that his personal identifiable information would be given to a third party analytics company.

Plaintiff Ryan Perry, who brought the CNN app class action lawsuit, makes the same claim about its app.

“Nevertheless, each time after Perry read news stories and viewed video clips using the CNN App, CNN disclosed his [personal identifiable information] to third-party analytics company Bango,” Perry’s complaint says.

When the CNN app is installed on an iPhone, it will ask the user if it wants CNN to use the current location of the phone and if it would like CNN to send push notifications.

“At no time during this process, however, does CNN seek or obtain the consent of the user to share or otherwise disclose his or her [personal identifiable information] to third parties for any purpose,” the CNN app class action lawsuit explains.

The Cartoon Network app on the android just has a loading screen and goes directly to a home screen when first opened, the lawsuit explains. Like the CNN app, “at no time during this process, however, does Cartoon Network seek or obtain the consent of the user to share or otherwise disclose his or her [personal identifiable information] to third parties for any purpose.”

The class action lawsuits explain that the data is sent to third-party companies like Bango because most people today use apps on more than one device, and Bango is able to assess a user’s behavior by linking those different devices together with personal identifiers.

The information collected in association with apps “includes information like the person’s location, phone number, email, purchase history, app activity history, and payment details.”

According to the class action lawsuit, these data collection methods have become increasingly controversial, and Apple, in its most recent iPhone operating system, iOS 7, “discontinued mobile applications’ ability to transmit MAC addresses to third parties for tracking purposes.”

However, the controversy that has surrounded these practices has not stopped CNN or the Cartoon Network from disclosing “nearly every digital movement of its CNN App users — including MAC addresses — to a third party analytics company,” the class action says.

Perry and Ellis are asking the court to declare that CNN and the Cartoon Network have violated the Video Privacy Protection Act and award an injunctive and other relief to protect class members from the defendants’ engagement in the unlawful acts.

They are also asking for statutory damages of $2,500 to be awarded per violation and for punitive damages, if applicable.

Plaintiffs in both suits are represented by Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, Benjamin H. Richman, J. Dominick Larry, Courtney C. Booth and Chandler Givens of Edelson PC, and by Jennifer Auer Jordan of The Jordan Firm LLC as local counsel in Georgia.

The CNN App Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Perry v. Cable News Network Inc., et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-01194, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The Cartoon Network App Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Ellis v. The Cartoon Network Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-00484, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

UPDATE: On July 5, 2016, CNN is attempting to get the Eleventh Circuit court to dismiss an appeal to revive a video privacy class action lawsuit that was dismissed by a lower court back in April.