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A recent class action lawsuit claims that the WebMD website violates California privacy law by recording their visitors.
Plaintiff Mary Narvaez says that she visited the WebMD website several times, most recently in July 2020. Unbeknownst to her, the website allegedly recorded her activity through Mouseflow software.
Narvaez says that Mouseflow software creates a video of consumers who visit the WebMD website. In this video, the consumer’s keystrokes and mouse clicks are allegedly recorded, along with their location and device type. According to the plaintiff, she was not told that Mouseflow would be recording her activity and did not consent to these recordings.
“[B]y using Mouseflow’s technology, Defendants willfully and without the consent of all parties to the communication, or in any unauthorized manner, read or attempted to read or learn the contents or meaning of electronic communications of [Narvaez],” the WebMD website class action lawsuit contends.
According to Narvaez, these actions violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act. This law prohibits unlawful recording of communications between two parties without both of those parties’ consent. Although the law is most typically applied to phone calls, Narvaez argues that her visit to the WebMD website was an internet communication between herself and the site.
Narvaez seeks to represent a Class of consumers who live in California and visited the WebMD website where they had their activities recorded by Mouseflow. She says that thousands of Class Members could be included in this group.
On behalf of herself and the proposed Class, Narvaez seeks damages of at least $5,000 or three times the actual damages for each individual as allowed under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, along with interest, court costs, and attorneys’ fees. The plaintiff has also asked the court for injunctive relief which would require the WebMD website to not record users.
WebMD is not the first company to face similar allegations under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act.
In October, Cars.com was hit with a class action lawsuit by a California man who claims that his activity was unlawfully recorded while on the website. Like Narvaez, this plaintiff maintains that he never consented to this recording by Cars.com and Lead Intelligence, a tech company.
Noom, a weight loss plan website, also faced legal action in October when they were hit with a class action lawsuit. According to the plaintiffs in this case, Noom partnered with digital trackers from FullStory Inc. to monitor visitors to their websites.
The plaintiffs note that this recording is especially harmful since website visitors are directed to provide private information such as their height, weight, age and other medical conditions during the weight loss screening program.
Earlier this month, Carnival Cruise Lines faced a privacy class action lawsuit under the California Invasion of Privacy Act for allegedly monitoring website activity without consent.
Unlike other companies who reportedly partnered with a tech company to record visitors, Carnival embedded wiretap functionality in their website’s JavaScript coding. This allegedly allowed the company to “secretly observe and record” the activity of website visitors.
All of the plaintiffs in these cases argue that they and other proposed Class Members never provided consent to have their website activity monitored.
Did you visit the WebMD website? Are you worried that the website may have recorded your activity? Let us know in the comment section below.
Narvaez and the proposed Class are represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Joel D. Smith, and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.
The WebMD Website Class Action Lawsuit is Mary Narvaez v. WebMD LLC, et al., Case No. 2:20-at-01139, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
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585 thoughts onWebMD Secretly Records Visitors to Its Website, Claims Class Action Lawsuit
I have always held trust in WebMD, not only that the information I was receiving was accurate but also that my visit was held private and confidential.
I have used WebMD countless times over the years- present and recently.
I came across this article while on my way to the WebMD Website too check the symptoms of a close friend that has been diagnosed with Colon Cancer.
If WebMD has been violating my privacy rights by recording or obtaining my information without consent then I do ask if I also could be added to this ongoing and active Lawsuit for I am offended that such a thing has taken place.
Sincerely,
𝓡𝓸𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓽 𝓐𝓵𝓮𝔁𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻
Definitely concerned as I have visited webmd many times
please add me
i use them frequently pl ease include me