M.A.C. Cosmetics, Goodyear class action alleges company website uses keystroke monitoring

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M.A.C. Cosmetics, Goodyear keystroke monitoring class action: 

• Who: M.A.C. Cosmetics and Goodyear Tires have been hit with twin lawsuits by consumers who visited the companies’ websites.
• Why: The plaintiffs allege both companies secretly monitored and recorded the movements of potential customers on their respective websites.
• Where: The cases were filed in California federal court.

M.A.C. Cosmetics and Goodyear Tires have been hit with twin class action lawsuits by consumers who visited the companies’ websites and say their movements on the website were secretly and illegally monitored and recorded.

Plaintiff Arisha Byars filed a complaint Aug. 1 against Goodyear Tires in a California court while Plaintiff Sonya Valenzuela filed a class action against M.A.C. Cosmetics the same day in the same court. 

Both plaintiffs are represented by the same lawyer and allege violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the California Penal Code.

Byars alleges illegal wiretapping of communications on the website www.goodyear.com while Valenzuela alleges her communications were intercepted on the website www.maccosmetics.com. 

Unbeknownst to visitors to the two websites, Goodyear and M.A.C secretly deployed “keystroke monitoring” software that they used to “surreptitiously intercept, monitor and record the communications, including keystrokes and mouse clicks, of all visitors” to their websites, the lawsuits state.

The two defendants neither inform visitors nor seek their express or implied consent prior to the alleged wiretapping, the plaintiffs say. 

“Defendant’s actions amount to the digital trifecta of looking over its consumers’ shoulders, eavesdropping on consumers’ conversations, reading consumers’ journals,” the lawsuits state.

M.A.C., Goodyear class action plaintiffs thought they were communicating with a human, lawsuits say

When Byars visited the Goodyear website, she says she communicated with someone that she believed to be a customer service representative. 

In actuality, the website was allegedly utilizing a sophisticated “chatbot” program that convincingly impersonates an actual human and that encourages consumers to share their personal information, she says.

“At the same time, the Defendant simultaneously logs, records and stores the entire conversation using secretly embedded wiretapping technology,” the Goodyear class action says.

Near identical claims were made in regards to the M.A.C Cosmetics website. Both plaintiffs allege the companies did not inform them that they were monitoring their communications.

“Plaintiff and Class Members did not know at the time of the communications that Defendant was secretly intercepting, monitoring, recording, and sharing the electronic communications,” the M.A.C. Cosmetics class action says.

Both Byars and Valenzuela are looking to represent anyone in California who visited either of the websites and whose communications were monitored as per their complaints in the past year. They are each seeking certification of the class actions, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.

Meanwhile, in March, technology giant Intel was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it wiretapped users by tracking keystroke and mouse movements on its site.

What do you think of the allegations of keystroke monitoring in the M.A.C. Cosmetics class action or Goodyear class action? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! 

Both plaintiffs are represented by Scott. J. Ferrell at Pacific Trial Attorneys. 

The Goodyear class action lawsuit is Arisha Byars v. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. et al., Case No. 5:22-cv-01358, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

The M.A.C Cosmetics class action lawsuit is Sonya Valenzuela v. M.A.C. Cosmetics Inc, Case No. 5:22-cv-01360, in the U.S. District Court Central District of California.

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