Buzzfeed's Use of Trackers to Collect Visitors' IP Address Violates CIPA: Class Action

Three trackers collect Buzzfeed consumers’ IP addresses when they visit the entertainment website, without their consent, alleged a privacy class action Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-02753) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan.

The trackers -- Sharethrough, IQM and Epsilon’s Dotomi -- are installed on website visitors’ internet browsers and capture their routing, addressing or signaling information, making the trackers a “pen register” under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, said the complaint. CIPA section 638.51(a) proscribes any “person” from “install[ing] or us[ing] a pen register or a trap and trace device without first obtaining a court order," said the complaint. A pen register is a “device or process that records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing, or signaling information transmitted by an instrument or facility from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted, but not the contents of a communication," the complaint said.

Sharethrough, IQM and Dotomi collected Chih-Yuan Chang’s IP address without her consent, said the complaint. The plaintiff, a Campbell, California, resident, visited Buzzfeed.com multiple times from June 2019 until March of this year on her desktop PC browser, the complaint said. Code on the website caused the trackers to be installed on her browser where they surreptitiously collected her data, it said. By installing the trackers without her prior consent or a court order, Buzzfeed violated CIPA, it said.

Sharethrough, IQM,and Epsilon used personally identifying information collected by the trackers to analyze website data and marketing campaigns, conduct targeted advertising and “ultimately boost” revenues for Buzzfeed and advertisers, the complaint said. The trackers are designed to conduct targeted advertising and boost Buzzfeed revenue through “surreptitious collection” of Chang and class members’ data, it said.

The IP addresses the trackers collect allow the data analytics companies to determine users' identities and target them with personalized ads, the complaint said. They also allow Sharethrough, IQM and Dotomi to track users’ website activity through repeated visits so they can target them with ads relevant to their personal browsing activity, it said. The data helps Buzzfeed further monetize its website and “maximize revenue by allowing third parties to collect user information,” it said.

Chang seeks for herself and the class statutory damages of $5,000 for each CIPA violation, an order of restitution and other equitable monetary relief, pre- and post-judgment interest on all amounts awarded, and attorneys’ fees and legal costs, said the complaint. Buzzfeed didn’t comment Friday.