The Economist Sells Customers' Private Purchase Data in Violation of Utah Law: Class Action

The Economist Newspaper NA intentionally, systematically and unlawfully discloses customers’ private purchase information in violation of Utah’s Notice of Intent to Sell Nonpublic Personal Information Act (NISNPIA), alleged a class action Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-00878) in U.S. District Court for Central Utah in Salt Lake City.

Jess Collins, a Salt Lake City resident, received a “barrage of unwanted junk mail” after purchasing a subscription to The Economist, said the complaint. The company didn’t notify Collins that it discloses customers’ private purchasing information, and she never authorized it to do so, it said. She wasn’t given written notice that the company rents, sells or discloses for compensation its customers’ private information, “or any means of opting out,” it said.

The Economist Newspaper NA rented, sold or disclosed for compensation “detailed information” about Collins’ subscription purchase to data aggregators, "appenders," and cooperatives; list brokers; political organizations; and non-profit companies without giving her prior notice, the complaint said. The company also sold lists containing Collins’ private purchase information to third parties seeking to contact its customers “for their own independent business purposes,” without her providing prior notice, as required by NISNPIA, it said.

The complaint showed a screenshot marketing “The Economist Mailing List,” offered by list broker NextMark that’s said to contain the private purchase information of “all 126,219” of company’s recent U.S. purchasers “at a base price of ‘$155.00/M [per thousand],’ (i.e., 15.5 cents apiece).” By renting, selling or disclosing for compensation the private purchase information of its customers, without giving prior notice, The Economist violated the NISNPIA, it said.

An “entire industry exists” around data aggregators that “purchase, trade, and collect massive databases of information about consumers,” said the complaint, citing a 2012 Time magazine article on Big Data. Data aggregators profit by selling “'extraordinarily intrusive’ information in an open and largely unregulated market,” it said.

Information disclosures like The Economist’s “are particularly troublesome because of their cascading nature,” said the complaint. Once a consumer is marked as receptive to a specific type of spam, she is often “bombarded with similar fraudulent offers from a host of scam artists,” it said, citing a 2000 FTC report on fraud against seniors.

In addition to awards of $500 to herself and each class member for each time The Economist failed to provide notice as required by NISNPIA relating to their private purchase information, Collins seeks attorneys’ fees and legal costs, plus pre-judgment interest. The Economist didn't comment Wednesday.