WSJ Hit with Privacy Class Action Lawsuit over VPPA Violations

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A new consumer privacy class action lawsuit was filed Friday against Dow Jones & Co., alleging that it collects and distributes personally identifiable information from consumers who use the company’s Wall Street Journal Channel on Roku TV.

A number of class action lawsuits have been filed in recent months regarding the collection of personal identification information by media companies and the subsequent sale of such sensitive information to third-party advertisers. The WSJ privacy class action lawsuit, filed by Georgia plaintiff Terry Locklear, accuses Dow Jones of collecting WSJ viewers’ information and selling it to marketing companies in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act.

The VPPA was originally designed to limit the tracking of video rental store consumers based on what movies or other media they watched. However, the WSJ privacy class action lawsuit alleges that streaming services like those offered in conjunction with the Roku system are supposed to provide similar protections against the release of personal identifying information by The Wall Street Journal and other services.

According to the Dow Jones privacy class action lawsuit, the media firm offers a streaming service for Roku users that includes WSJ news stories, videos and other content. However, without Locklear’s knowledge or consent, the company reportedly provides records of “video clips and news reports” to “an unrelated third-party data analytics and video advertising company called mDialog.” The data includes the serial number of the device, a unique identifier.

While the VPPA class action lawsuit cites concerns raised by Congress beginning in 2011, the belief is that a putative class of Roku users who used The Wall Street Journal app and whose information was provided to mDialog actually suffered a statutory violation under the VPPA. According to the class action lawsuit, the defendant is a “video tape service provider” as it “engage[s] in the … rental, sale or delivery of prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials” on the belief that the latter includes streaming video content.

Personal identifying information under the statute allegedly “includes information which identifies as person as having requested or obtained specific specific video materials or services.” Locklear’s legal team argues that the word includes implies a broad range of protections as supported by the testimony of senators regarding the statute’s role in protecting users of the latest technology.

As a result, the Georgia plaintiff is seeking statutory damages on behalf of a nationwide class of Roku WSJ channel users and any other punitive damages a judge and jury might see fit to assess against the Wall Street Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones & Co.

Locklear is represented by class action attorney Jennifer Auer Jordan of Jordan Law Firm LLC.

The WSJ Consumer Tracking Class Action Lawsuit is Terry Locklear v. Dow Jones & Co. Inc., Case No. 14-cv-00744, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

UPDATE: Dow Jones filed a motion to dismiss the WSJ privacy class action lawsuit on May 12, 2014, arguing that it fails to meet the standards for pleading a violation of the VPPA.