Anne Bucher  |  September 19, 2022

Category: Legal News

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Exterior of a Michales store against a blue sky - Michaels website
(Photo Credit: Joni Hanebutt/Shutterstock)

Michaels website session replay class action lawsuit overview:

  • Who: Plaintiff Jennifer Farst filed a class action lawsuit against Michaels Stores Inc.
  • Why: Michaels allegedly uses “session replay” spyware to unlawfully intercept customers’ interactions with its website.
  • Where: The Michaels class action lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

Michaels Stores Inc. uses “session replay” spyware to unlawfully intercept customers’ interactions with its website, according to a class action lawsuit filed Sept. 14 in Pennsylvania federal court.

Plaintiff Jennifer Farst alleges Michaels uses “session replay” spyware that intercepts users’ interactions with the Michaels website, including their mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, search terms and the pages and content they viewed on the website.

Michaels allegedly incercepted, stored and recorded this information without the knowledge or consent of its site’s users, in violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretap and Electronic Surveillance Control Act.

Michaels class action says collected data can create video replay of customers’ entire website visit

Farst explains the session replay spyware is not a traditional cookie, tag, web beacon, or analytics tool. Instead, it is “a sophisticated computer software that allows [Michaels] to contemporaneously intercept, capture, read, observe, re-route, forward, redirect, and receive incoming electronic communications to its website.”

The information collected from customers’ interactions with the Michaels site can later be used by Michaels to essentially create a video replay of a customer’s entire visit to the website, according to the Michaels class action lawsuit.

Farst alleges this information is used not to monitor and discover broken website features, but to capture detailed user interactions and use that information to increase engagement, maximize conversion rates and otherwise boost their profits.

Michaels site users may be at risk of identity theft, online scams and other risks if their personal information is leaked to unauthorized third parties, Farst alleges.

The Michaels class action lawsuit notes that in 2019, Apple threatened to remove apps from the Apple Store if the app developer failed to disclose to users that the app utilized session replay technology.

Farst says she visited the Michaels site around a dozen times during the past year and did not expect her interactions with the website to be recorded and watched by Michaels employees. She says she did not receive notice that her website visits would be recorded and that she did not provide consent for Michaels to record her interactions.

Farst filed the Michaels class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed class of Pennsylvania residents who visited the Michaels website and whose electronic communications were intercepted by Michaels (or on its behalf).

Michaels is not the only company to come under fire for allegedly using session replay spyware to track customers’ website visits. Zillow, Lowe’s and Expedia were recently hit with session replay spyware class action lawsuits.

An Old Navy class action lawsuit also accuses the retailer of illegally monitoring and recording website visitors’ keystrokes and mouse clicks.

Have you visited the Michaels website? Tell us what you think of the allegations Michaels uses spyware to intercept user interactions. Join the discussion in the comments!

Farst is represented by Ari H. Marcus of Marcus Zelman LLC.

The Michaels website session replay class action lawsuit is Jennifer Farst v. Michaels Stores Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-01433-CCC, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg Division.


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24 thoughts onMichaels class action alleges website invades consumer data privacy by using ‘session replay’ spyware

  1. Joyce Robinson says:

    I shop a michaels

  2. Brandi says:

    Add me go often

  3. Brenda Greenlaw says:

    Please add me!

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