SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – Users of two Facebook apps allege that their privacy was invaded because Facebook collected their call logs and text data without authorization.
Anthony Williams, Tyoka Brumfield and Wendy Burnett, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on March 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Facebook Inc. for alleged violation of the California's Computer Data Access Fraud Act, California's Unfair Competition Law and California Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the defendant "exploited a vulnerability in the permission settings" for Facebook Messenger and Facebook Lite smartphone apps in prior versions for the Android operating system.
They allege by granting the apps permission to access their contact lists, "Facebook scrapes years' worth of call and text data, including whether each call was 'Incoming,' 'Outgoing,' or 'Missed,' the date and time of each call, the number dialed, the individual called, and the duration of each call. Facebook then incorporates these data into its profile on each user, which it monetizes for advertising purposes," the suit states.
The plaintiffs hold Facebook Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly knowingly accessed and used without permission the plaintiffs' data.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek judgment for compensatory, statutory and punitive damages; prejudgment interest, attorneys' fees, expenses and costs of suit. They are represented by L. Timothy Fisher and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA in Walnut Creek, California and New York, New York.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:18-cv-01881-MEJ