Utah Resident Sues Better Homes & Gardens Publisher Under NISNPIA Law

Dotdash Meredith, publisher of more than 40 magazines, including People, Better Homes & Gardens and Southern Living, sells subscribers’ purchase information without providing prior notice of the disclosures, as required under Utah’s Notice of Intent to Sell Nonpublic Personal Information Act (NISNPIA), alleged a class action Wednesday (docket 1:24-cv-00046) in U.S. District Court for Utah.

As a result of Meredith’s “s intentional, systematic, and unlawful disclosures” of subscribers’ purchase information to data aggregators, list brokers, political organizations and “aggressive direct-mail advertisers,” plaintiff Teressa Langston, of Syracuse, Utah, has received a "barrage of unwanted junk mail,” said the complaint. The complaint was filed by Peters Scofield attorney David Schofield and Hedin Hall attorney Frank Hedin, who filed a similar lawsuit Tuesday involving a Mayo Clinic health newsletter.

Meredith, through list broker AudienceFirst Media (AFM), offers to provide list renters access to Meredith’s database with the private purchase information of 7.5 million recent magazine and book purchasers at a base price of $115 per thousand, said the complaint.

“Egregiously, Meredith also offers to sell, rent, or exchange lists of all of its customers over 50 years old,” and customers with children, broken down by age, the complaint said. By renting, selling or disclosing for compensation private purchase information of subscribers, without providing prior notice, Meredith violated NISNPIA, it said. Information Meredith rents or sells includes names, home addresses, that they are Meredith subscribers, gender, age, income, ethnicity, political views, lifestyle interests, preferred travel locations, hobbies, reading habits, health and exercise routines and sports interests, the complaint said.

The disclosure of such information is unlawful and “dangerous” because it allows for the targeting of “vulnerable members of society,” the complaint said. “Anyone could rent a customer list from Meredith that contains the names and addresses of all Hispanic women in Utah who are over the age of 60, live in a home with children between 6 and 12 years old, have an annual income of less than $30,000, and subscribe to Better Home & Gardens,” it said. Such a list is available for sale on the open market for $176 per thousand subscribers, it said.

Langston recently bought subscriptions to Meredith publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, People, Country Home, Allrecipes, Southern Living, Real Simple, Magnolia Journal, and Wood, said the complaint. The company didn’t disclose to Langston that it rents or sells customers’ private purchase information to third parties, and Langston “never authorized Meredith to do so,” it said.

Data aggregation “is especially troublesome when consumer information is sold to direct-mail advertisers,” said the complaint. Direct-mail advertisers often use consumer information “to lure unsuspecting consumers into various scams, including fraudulent sweepstakes, charities, and buying clubs,” it said. When companies like Meredith share information with data aggregators, data cooperatives, and direct-mail advertisers, “they contribute to the '[v]ast databases’ of consumer data that are often ‘sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies,’” it said. That puts consumers “'within the reach of fraudulent telemarketers’ and other criminals,” it said.

Langston seeks an award of $500 for herself and each class member for each time Meredith failed to provide subscribers’ notice as required under NISNPIA in relation to their private purchase information, said the complaint. She also seeks prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees and costs.