Lovisa faces class action lawsuit for allegedly recording users’ chats without consent
A recent class action lawsuit filed under California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), accused Lovisa.com of illegally recording and sharing the conversations consumers had with their chatbot.
Ruth Martin, a California resident, has filed a class action lawsuit against Lovisa.com, alleging that the jewelry brand illegally recorded and distributed customers’ online chats. The website did not take users consent before recording and sharing their conversations, in violation of CIPA, alleges the complaint.
Lovisa America, LLC, a Delaware company, owns and operates the website Lovisa.com. Lovisa is a fashion-forward jewelry brand. Their website features a chatbot that customers use for assistance while shopping on their website. Customers often disclose sensitive information to chatbots given of the nature of the products they’re shopping for. Plaintiff Martin filed a class action complaint alleging that Lovisa secretly recorded and even shared the contents of consumers’ conversations without their knowledge or consent, “even when such conversations are private and deeply personal.”
“The California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) prohibits both wiretapping and eavesdropping of electronic communications without the consent of all parties to the communication. Compliance with CIPA is easy, and the vast majority of website operators comply by conspicuously warning visitors when their conversations are being recorded or if third parties are eavesdropping on them.”
Ruth Martin v. Lovisa America, LLC, 1:22-cv-01356
“Defendant has covertly embedded code into its chat feature that automatically records and creates transcripts of all such conversations.”
The CIPA Class Action alleges that Lovisa.com does not inform the users or take their consent for recording or sharing their chats
Plaintiff Martin sued Lovisa under the CIPA on October 23 in the Eastern District of California. Martin has filed class action lawsuits against other companies for similar CIPA violations, including the cosmetics brand, Sephora.
Just in the past few months, multiple class actions have alleged similar CIPA violations. These include lawsuits against some popular websites including, for instance a CIPA class action against Journeys.com, against Saucony.com, and against Gamestop.com. If these allegations are true, many other websites could also be breaking the law. Hence, we can expect more such class actions in the near future.
All Californians who have used the chat feature on Lovisa.com using their cellphone, are eligible to be members of this class action. The complainant seeks to recover $5,000 in statutory damages for each class member. At least 5,000 Californians were affected by this breach, claims Plaintiff Martin. It’s possible that a much larger number of consumers are impacted.
Recording a conversation without the consent of all parties to the conversation is prohibited under California Law.
“Unlike most companies, Defendant ignores CIPA. Instead, Defendant both wiretaps the conversations of all website visitors and allows a third party to eavesdrop on the conversations in real time during transmission. Why? Because, as one industry expert notes, “Live chat transcripts are the gold mines of customer service. At your fingertips, you have valuable customer insight. . .When people are chatting, you have direct access to their exact pain points.) See https://www.ravience.co/post/improve-marketing-roi-live-chat-transcripts“
Ruth Martin v. Lovisa America, LLC, 1:22-cv-01356
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How might this class action affect you?
We like to use the chatbot as a virtual shopper’s assistant when we shop online. Inadvertently, we often disclose “highly personal and sensitive data” in our communications. Many websites may be secretly recording our conversations if these claims are true. Disseminating it to other businesses who specialize in analyzing chats in order to extract consumer information to derive invaluable business insights. Unless the website takes your consent for such recording, that is a serious privacy invasion.
Some consumers might have been more careful during chats if they knew their conversations would be recorded and distributed later. Several alarming claims are made in the complaints about the “secret” data collection practices of Lovisa and other websites.
Why are companies sharing or analysing our conversations with their chatbots? What do they stand to gain from it? Read our investigation on how chatbots may be sharing your conversations with others to find out all the answers.
What can you do if your privacy has been breached too?
Have you interacted with the chatbot on Lovisa.com or any other websites? If this is the case, your privacy may have also been compromised. To defend your right to privacy, you must take action.
If you’re a California resident, The California Invasion of Privacy Act may provide a remedy for you. California residents who have suffered a privacy breach may be eligible to receive statutory damages of up to $5,000 under the California Invasion of Privacy Act. Several other states also provide similar remedies to their residents.
We can help you investigate your potential CIPA claims. Please contact us to consult a class action lawyer at ClassActionNews today. You may also be eligible to recover up to $5,000 for any similar violations you have suffered.
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