Two class action lawsuits were filed in California against adtech giant The Trade Desk alleging violation of consumer privacy laws related to consumer data collection and tracking.
Davis+Gilbert Privacy, Technology + Data Security partner Gary Kibel speaks to Adweek about the suit filed in the Central District alleging that The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) identifier technology collects personally identifiable information without proper consent and monetizes this data through user profiling and real-time bidding platforms.
“While the legal claims of potential privacy violations are not unique, the facts surrounding UID2’s operation might differentiate this case,” Gary states. The lawsuit claims UID2, as well as its predecessor, UID, enable the company to secretly harvest and monetize directly identifiable consumer data without user knowledge, potentially violating California wiretapping laws.
Gary also comments on how he predicts the court will take the claims seriously, examining them more thoroughly than previous lawsuits around the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). “They may say, ‘Look, there’s some factual issues here about how UID works, how people have their email addresses turned into an identifier. Is that an interception [in the legal sense]? Is that happening with appropriate disclosures on every single site?’ While there are strong defenses to many CIPA lawsuits, this one may not be dismissed out of hand by the court due to the unique facts.”
For more insight on the two recent class action lawsuits against The Trade Desk, read the full article below.