Pandora Users Revise Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

Pandora Users Revise Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

By Mike Holter

Pandora users took another crack at suing Pandora Media Inc. for selling their personal information to third-party advertisers after a federal judge tossed their original class action lawsuit in March.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White dismissed the first Pandora class action lawsuit, originally filed in June 2011, because he said the plaintiffs failed to show how they were harmed by Pandora’s allegedly improper use of their personal information.

In an amended complaint filed May 9, plaintiff Troy Yuncker attempts to more clearly illustrate how he and other Pandora users were damaged by Pandora’s practice of collecting their personal information and then selling it to third-party advertisers. He is joined by three new plaintiffs: Edgar Duran, Robert Hodson and Ralph Petrosino.

First, they say, Pandora deceived users into believing their personal information was being collected and used only to heighten the Pandora app’s experience. Consumers were unaware – because Pandora never explained to them – that the information was actually being collected for the transmission and commercialization of their information to third-party advertisers.

Two, Pandora users’ personally identifiable information “has substantial value to Pandora,” the class action lawsuit says. “Considering that mobile advertising is projected to be $1.5 billion a year industry by 2016, advertisers, website publishers and ad networks are seeking ways to better track users and find out more about them.”

As a result, there is now a very active market through which this type of information is bought and sold, placing a real, concrete value on consumers’ personal information. Misusing this information therefore constitutes actual harm, the class action lawsuit says.

The class action lawsuit says Pandora markets its app as free, but actively conceals from consumers that they are paying for the use of Pandora through the unauthorized collection and disclosure of their personal information, from which Pandora obtains revenue.

Finally, the revised class action lawsuit says consumers are harmed by the use of secret codes that are installed on their mobile devices by third-party advertisers, which take up memory space on the devices.

The amended Pandora class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of every individual in the United States who has subscribed to or placed the Pandora application on his or her Android or iOS device.

It is seeking treble and/or punitive damages, compensatory damages, interest and more.

The Pandora Privacy Class Action Lawsuit case is Yuncker, et al. v. Pandora Media Inc., Case No. 11-cv-03113, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph J. Siprut, Aleksandra M. S. Vold and Peter K. Carlson of Siprut PC and Francis M. Gregorek, Betsy C. Manifold, Rachele R. Rickert and Patrick H. Moran of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.

Updated May 13th, 2013

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