SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A Facebook user alleges the social media site stores users' location data without consent.
Brett Heeger filed a complaint on Oct. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Facebook Inc. over alleged violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and other counts.
According to the complaint, Heeger joined Facebook in 2004, but has not used the Facebook app since 2016. He alleges he expressly attempted to limit the defendant's tracking of his location by selecting the "off" option under the location history tracking and storage option.
"Nevertheless, Facebook continued to track and store his private location information without his knowledge or consent even when plaintiff did not use the Facebook app or tag his location in posts. Plaintiff suffered damages when he was deprived of control over access to his private location information," the suit states.
The plaintiff holds Facebook Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly continued to record and use users' location information after the feature was disabled on their mobile phones.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment for damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorneys' fees, costs, expenses and such other relief as the court deems just and proper. He is represented by Sabita J. Soneji and Katherine M. Aizpuru of Tycko & Zavareei LLP in Oakland, California.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:18-cv-06399-JD