Carnival class action over consumer tracking escapes dismissal

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Update: 

• A federal judge in California denied an attempt by Carnival Corp. to dismiss claims it unlawfully tracked its website visitors’ mouse clicks and keystrokes. 
• Consumers claim the cruise line invaded their privacy by allegedly wiretapping the electronic communications they made while using its website.  
• The judge determined the consumers sufficiently alleged that Carnival intercepted their electronic communications without their consent. 
• However, the judge ruled that the consumers will need to rework claims brought under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. 
• Carnival argued it notified website visitors that it would be recording their activity via a “cookie policy” banner displayed at the bottom of its website and that visitors agreed by continuing to use it. 
• The judge called Carnival’s defense “premature.”

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Carnival website class action overview: 

• Who: A California woman is suing Carnival Corporation. 
• Why: The plaintiff says the company secretly records the actions of consumers browsing its website.
• Where: The Carnival website class action was filed in a California federal court.

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(Feb. 14, 2023)

Carnival secretly records the actions of consumers who visit the cruise ship company’s website, in violation of the law, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff India Price filed the class action lawsuit against Carnival Corporation on Feb. 8 in a California federal court, alleging violations of state and federal consumer laws. 

According to the lawsuit, Carnival illegally wiretaps the electronic communications of visitors to its website, www.carnival.com. 

Carnival procures third-party vendors, such as Microsoft, to embed snippets of JavaScript computer code on its website for the purpose of intercepting and recording the actions of people visiting the website, otherwise known as “session replay,” Price says. 

The actions that are allegedly intercepted include their mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, URLs of web pages visited, and other electronic communications, in real-time.

“The Session Replay providers create a video replay of the user’s behavior on the website and provide it to Carnival for analysis,” Price says.

“Carnival’s procurement of the Session Replay providers to secretly deploy the Session Replay Code results in the electronic equivalent of ‘looking over the shoulder’ of each visitor to the Carnival’s website for the entire duration of their website interaction.”

Carnival’s use of session replay violates privacy laws, lawsuit alleges

Session replay code allows a website to capture and record nearly every action a website visitor takes while visiting the website, including actions that reveal the visitor’s personal or private sensitive data, Price states.

This happens sometimes even when the visitor does not intend to submit the data to the website operator, like when they are typing text into a text box that they might then erase. 

Carnival’s conduct violates the Invasion of Privacy Act, Cal. Penal Code and the federal Wiretap Act, the lawsuit says.

Price seeks to represent anyone in California whose website communications were intercepted through Carnival’s procurement and use of session replay code. 

The plaintiff seeks certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Line has agreed to pay $1.25 million in a multistate settlement made to resolve claims the company took too long to notify the public about a 2019 data breach. 

What do you think of the allegations in this Carnival Corporation class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Lynch Carpenter and Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC.

The Carnival Corporation class action lawsuit is India Price et al., v. Carnival Corporation, Case No. 3:23-cv-00236-GPC-AHG in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. 

@topclassactions

Have you visited Carnival’s site?! Allegedly Carnival tracked & recorded visitor’s personal protected information.❗️😱 #carnivalcruise #carnivalcruiseline #carnivalcruises #classactionlawsuit #classactionlawsuits #topclassactions #travel #vacation

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