Jennifer L. Henn  |  December 24, 2020

Category: Legal News

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Ancestry faces class action lawsuit.

The popular genealogy website and service Ancestry has been hit with another class action lawsuit over claims the company collects and then sells access to personal data, records and yearbook photos without people’s permission.

According to the class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Illinois on Dec. 14, Ancestry has violated the rights of millions of Illinois residents through its practices. Lawyers for the plaintiff say the company has amassed a database of information from school yearbooks from 1900 to 1999 that contains some 730 records, and profits by selling subscriptions to tap into that information.

At no point has Ancestry sought or received permission from the people who appear in those yearbooks, though, the class action lawsuit claims.

Sergio Bonilla of Great Lakes, Illinois, is one of those people.

He is the lead plaintiff in the new case and is seeking the Court’s permission to represent a Class of others from Illinois whose yearbooks photos and information have been extracted and monetized by Ancestry.

According to its website, Ancestry’s yearbook database includes more than 47 million records, including photographs, from Illinois grade schools and universities.

Bonilla and his legal team allege Ancestry.com Operations Inc. has violated Illinois state privacy laws and has committed intrusion upon seclusion and become unjustly enriched.

Ancestry faces class action lawsuit.“In exchange for subscription payments ranging from $24.99 to $49.99 per month … Ancestry subscribers receive the ability to search, view, and download records in Ancestry databases,” Bonilla’s class action lawsuit says. “Ancestry did not ask the consent of the people whose personal information and photographs it profits from. Nor has it offered them any compensation for [their] ongoing use.”

A search of the Ancestry yearbook database turned up information about where Bonilla went to high school, his estimated birth year and at least one photograph of him.

“Mr. Bonilla’s face is plainly visible, as are the faces of the four other boys in the photograph, all of whom are aged between nine and 12 years old at the time of the photograph,” the class action lawsuit says.

The photograph and data are available to paid subscribers to Ancestry and to those participating in the company’s promotional 14-day free trial subscription, according to the complaint.

Bonilla’s class action lawsuit is at least the second of its kind to be leveled against Ancestry recently.

In late November, Meredith Callahan and Lawrence Abraham filed a similar class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Both lead plaintiffs say they do not subscribe to Ancestry, nor did they give their permission for their yearbook photos and information to appear in the company’s searchable database; however, they discovered their photos and information are included in it.

Have your yearbooks photos been collected and added to the Ancestry yearbook database without your consent? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Lead plaintiff Bonilla and the proposed Class Members are represented by Shannon M. McNulty of Clifford Law Offices PC; Michael F. Ram and Marie N. Appel of Morgan & Morgan; and Benjamin R. Osborn.

The Ancestry Class Action Lawsuit is Sergio Bonilla, et al. v. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-07390, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

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237 thoughts onClass Action Lawsuit Says Ancestry Shows Yearbook Photos Without Consent

  1. BRITTANY CHALKER says:

    My sophomore photo is published on ancestry.com without my consent i was minor at the time and my picture should not be on here without consent

    1. Anthony says:

      Mine was as well. However, this is a losing case. Yearbooks aren’t private and are distributed publicly. Therefore, you dont need to give your consent.

      1. Tom says:

        It d spends on the state as to whether they can be uploaded on a commercial site.

  2. Heidi says:

    Please add me to this list. I was recently told my high school year book photo was on Ancestry and I don’t subscribe and never gave permission. Please let me know how I can join this lawsuit.

  3. Kris Hanna says:

    A photo of me in High school is on Ancestry without my permission . I’m unable to look at it without paying for a subscription which is absurd absurd I wanna know how I can get my photo taken off of there and now I can look for it I shouldn’t have to pay for my photo that I never gave anyone permission you use

  4. Katherine K says:

    I am an Ancestry subscriber; but my high school yearbook photos are awful and I never gave permission for them to share that information. According to their terms of service they do not publish information about living people. I live in California, not Illinois, but I don’t want my awful high school photos published on Ancestry.
    What can I do to get my photos removed?

  5. E.T. says:

    Please add me as well. Thank you.

  6. Not telling says:

    It’s not even the good senior pictures! It’s the other three years of high school yikes! This should only be visible by permission or after death of the person. Ancestry did us dirty with this one!

  7. amy hallum says:

    Do not want my yearbook photo published. Add me

  8. Janet l. says:

    Please add me also ancestry is still charging a membership fee of $89 without consent when you buy the dna kit the put a free memebership but don’t tell you SCAM

  9. Tiffany Lufkin says:

    Yes my yearbook photo is being used on ancestry. There is only one photo of me from that yearbook photo and it was my grandmas who passed away years ago. I was a ward of the state. Why is it on ancestry? How are they using photos of people without consulting them.

  10. Natalie Bays says:

    Add me

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