Google, Viacom Violated VPPA by Tracking Kids Under 13, Three Suits Allege
Law firms filed three lawsuits involving Google and Viacom, seeking class-action status Friday, alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and Wiretap Act. Except for their state-level claims, the suits are nearly identical and were filed in federal courts not known as common venues for privacy complaints. They claim that Google’s DoubleClick placed tracking cookies without parents’ consent on the browsers of children under 13 who visited Viacom’s Nick.com and Nickjr.com.
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What’s unusual about the claims is they don’t invoke the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. COPPA places collection and notice-and-consent obligations on websites that have as their primary audience kids under 13. The FTC last week proposed revisions to COPPA regulations that include an expansion of the definition of personal information and new obligations on third parties with “actual knowledge” that they collect information from under-13s (CD Dec 20 p10).
Google and Viacom “conspired to use and profit from” information obtained from children under 13 via the tracking cookies when they visited the Viacom sites, which delivered “targeted marketing” through DoubleClick, said the suit filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Ill., titled M. v. Viacom, Inc. et al. Viacom “knowingly permits Google” to place the DoubleClick “id” cookie on browsers after children state they are under 13 through the “sign-up process” on Viacom sites, and Viacom doesn’t attempt to notify the parents of those users upon sign-up, it said. Google keeps records of the kids’ Internet communications and use and their “video materials” -- the latter a VPPA violation, the complaint said.
Among the three suits, only the Illinois complaint also said Viacom is illicitly collecting under-13s’ information on its Neopets.com virtual world. It also said the companies violated the Illinois Eavesdropping Act. The complaints filed in federal courts in Jefferson City, Mo. (N.J. v. Viacom Incorporated et al), and Pittsburgh (T. v. Viacom, Inc. et al) don’t allege any state-law violations. They say Viacom and Google are guilty of common-law “intrusion upon seclusion” and “unjust enrichment” violations. The Missouri complaint has three law firms listed as representing the class plaintiffs, while the other two have one firm each. The firms did not comment on who is coordinating the suits or their timing, why they allege violations only against children under 13 and why COPPA isn’t used as grounds for the complaints. A Google spokesman said the company hasn’t been served with the complaints and won’t comment. Viacom didn’t comment.