Encyclopaedia Britannica accused of illegally tracking web users

Encyclopaedia Britannica class action overview:

• Who: Plaintiff Daniel Vesely filed a class action lawsuit against Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. and CMI Marketing Inc., doing business as Raptive.
• Why: Vesely claims the companies violated California privacy law by surreptitiously installing tracking software on their website without providing users with adequate notice or obtaining their informed consent.
• Where: The Encyclopaedia Britannica class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

A new class action lawsuit alleges Encyclopaedia Britannica and CMI Marketing violated California privacy law by surreptitiously installing tracking software on their website without providing users with adequate notice or obtaining their informed consent.

Plaintiff Daniel Vesely claims the companies installed the tracking software on their website in order to capture detailed information about users’ electronic communications, such as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, session data, clickstream activity and form inputs in real time.

Vesely argues that the companies did not secure a court order permitting them to embed the tracking software on their website, nor did they obtain consent from users to do so.

“Vesely and the Class Members did not consent to the installation, execution, embedding or injection of the Trackers on their devices and did not expect their behavioral data to be disclosed or monetized in this way,” the Encyclopaedia Britannica class action lawsuit states.

Class action claims companies violated California privacy law

Vesely claims the companies are guilty of violating California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and demands a jury trial.

Vesely wants to represent a California class of individuals whose browser was subject to the installation, execution, embedding or injection of the trackers by the companies’ website during the relevant statute of limitations period.

“Defendant did not obtain consent from Plaintiff or any of the Class Members before using pen registers or trap and trace devices to locate or identify users of its Website and has thus violated CIPA,” the Encyclopaedia Britannica class action lawsuit states.

Currently, Tesla is facing a similar class action lawsuit alleging it violated privacy laws by tracking website visitors without consent.

Did you visit Encyclopaedia Britannica’s website? Let us know in the comments.

Vesely is represented by Reuben D. Nathan of Nathan & Associates APC and Ross Cornell of the Law Offices of Ross Cornell APC.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica class action lawsuit is Vesely v. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., et al., Case No. 2:25-cv-08552, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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