VPPA Class Action Alleges Sinclair Shares Viewing Histories With Google

Sinclair, operator of TennisChannel.com, uses a “wide array of extremely sophisticated tracking technology” that collects its subscribers’ personally identifiable information (PII) and viewing history, and “knowingly discloses” that to third-party analytics and advertising providers, alleged plaintiff Tracy Hyman’s Video Privacy Protection Act class action Monday (docket 2:24-cv-02168) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.

Disclosing subscribers’ PII without their consent is a violation of the VPPA and Hyman’s and the class members’ "statutory rights," the complaint said. Hyman’s class action seeks legal and equitable remedies "to redress and put a stop" to Sinclair’s practices of knowingly disclosing subscribers’ PII to third-parties in violation of the VPPA, it said.

To gain access to Sinclair’s complete library of prerecorded tennis matches, consumers must subscribe to TennisChannel.com by creating an account and purchasing a paid subscription, said the complaint. While creating accounts, subscribers aren’t asked to consent to Sinclair sharing and disclosing their PII to third parties, “including information which identifies them as having viewed specific video content,” the suit said.

Despite not obtaining “informed, written consent,” “which is distinct and separate from any form setting forth other legal obligations,” Sinclair makes subscribers’ PII available to third parties, the complaint said. A live “data-traffic analysis” of TennisChannel.com’s website shows that Sinclair discloses subscribers’ PII to Google using a Google Analytics Pixel to track every interaction that a subscriber has while viewing TennisChannel.com, it said. Sinclair also shares the PII with Easelive.tv, a provider of ad-integration services to streaming companies, it said. If a subscriber is a Google user independent of their use of TennisChannel.com, Sinclair’s website also obtains their Google ID “and links all of their website interactions to their global Google ID,” it said.

Easelive.tv is a provider of "video-overlay services" that let streamers provide messages to viewers on top of the video content that they are watching, including ads, said the complaint. To use Easelive.tv’s services, Sinclair discloses subscribers’ “specific unique account information based on their login ID,” including their emails and passwords, it said. It also discloses subscribers' activities while they're logged into TennisChannel.com under their unique accounts, “including specifically what videos they watched,” it added.

Sinclair discloses its subscribers’ identities and viewing information to Google and Easelive.tv “to enable its ad partners to deliver ads” to specific subscribers “that are most likely to fit the criteria that they are looking for,” said the complaint. However, Sinclair does not obtain subscribers’ “prior written consent as required under the VPPA to share their PII and video viewing history with any third parties, including Google and Easelive.tv,” it said. Subscribers “remain unaware that their PII and other sensitive data is being disclosed and/or collected by such third parties,” it said.

Hyman has had a paid streaming subscription to TennisChannel.com for two years, the complaint said. He remains "unaware of the status of his PII" and to whom it has been disclosed, it said. Sinclair didn’t comment Tuesday.