Consumer Reports Shares Subscriber Info With Data Miners, List Brokers, Others, Alleges Class Action

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Consumer Reports Data Sharing Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: A Ohio resident lodged a class action lawsuit against Consumer Reports, Inc. 
• Why: The plaintiff claims Consumer Reports unlawfully shares the identity of its subscribers with third parties.
• Where: The class action lawsuit seeks to represent Ohioans and is pending in Consumer Report’s home town, New York.

Consumer Reports unlawfully shares the identities of its magazine subscribers to third parties without their subscribers’ consent, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Ohio resident and lead plaintiff James Wallen claims Consumer Reports supplements its revenues by renting, exchanging, or otherwise disclosing the personal information of its subscribers to data miners, data aggregators, data appenders, data cooperatives, and list brokers. 

Wallen wants to represent a Class of Ohio residents who have had their identities rented, exchanged, or otherwise disclosed by Consumer Reports without their consent. 

Wallen says he never gave Consumer Reports consent to share his identity or private information and that doing so was a violation of his and other Class Members statutory privacy rights. 

“Consumer Reports does not seek its customers’ prior consent, written or otherwise, for any of these disclosures, and its customers remain unaware that their names and identities and other sensitive information are being rented and exchanged on the open market,” states the class action lawsuit. 

Consumer Reports Trades Subscriber Info for Donations, Claims Class Action

Wallen claims Consumer Reports is part of a network of data aggregators, appenders, consumer-facing businesses, non-profit organizations, and political organizations that share the private data of subscribers in order to solicit donations and support. 

Consumer Reports also trades subscriber information with data cooperatives, who in turn give the magazine access to their own mailing lists, the class action lawsuit alleges. 

“By renting, exchanging, or otherwise disclosing – rather than selling – its customers’ names and identities, Consumer Reports is able to disclose the information time and time again to countless third parties,” states the class action lawsuit. 

Wallen claims Consumer Reports’ disclosure of private information — such as names, identities, and reading habits — also puts subscribers at risk of being targeted by bad actors. 

“Consumer Reports’ disclosure of sensitive and private information puts consumers, especially the more vulnerable members of society, at risk of serious harm from scammers,” states the class action lawsuit. 

Wallen argues Consumer Reports is in violation of Ohio Revised Code Sec. 2741.01. He is requesting injunctive relief and compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages for himself and all Class Members. 

Consumer Reports recently inked a $1.15 million class action settlement with consumers who say they were unknowingly enrolled in an automatic renewal program for a subscription to the publication. 

Google also reached a settlement agreement with a group of its users earlier this month to settle claims the tech giant breached its own privacy policy by sharing their data with third parties. 

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The plaintiff is represented by Philip L. Fraietta of Bursor & Fisher, P.A., and Ari J. Scharg and Benjamin Thomassen of Edelson PC. 

The Consumer Reports Data Sharing Class Action Lawsuit is Wallen v. Consumer Reports, Inc., Case No. 7:21-cv-08624, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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