SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A Dixon, California man alleges his keystrokes and other information were recorded in real time while browsing an online site to shop for mattresses.
Paul Good, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on Oct. 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against Casper Sleep Inc. and NaviStone Inc. over alleged violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and other counts.
According to the complaint, in November 2017, Good browsed defendant Casper’s website at Casper.com while shopping for a new mattress. He alleges he did not purchase anything, but his keystrokes, mouse clicks and other communications were intercepted in real time and disclosed to NaviStone.
"The wiretaps, which are secretly embedded in the computer code on Casper.com, are used by defendants to scan the user’s computer in search of files that can be used to de-anonymize and identify the user, and also to observe visitors’ keystrokes, mouse clicks, and other electronic communications in real time for the purpose of gathering personally identifiable information (PII) to de-anonymize those visitors – that is, to match previously unidentifiable website visitors to obtain their names and home addresses, along with detailed data concerning their browsing habits," the suit states.
The plaintiff claims he was unaware that his keystrokes, mouse clicks and other electronic communications were being intercepted and disclosed to a third party at the time of his visit.
The plaintiff holds Casper Sleep Inc. and Navistone Inc. responsible because Casper allegedly intentionally embedded NaviStone's software coded wiretaps on its website to intercept visitors' communications for personally identifiable information.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment for damages, prejudgment interest, monetary and injunctive relief, attorneys' fees, expenses and costs of suit. He is represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Joel D. Smith and Frederick J. Klorczyk III of Bursor & Fisher PA in Walnut Creek, California and Scott Bursor of the same firm in New York.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California case number 2:18-cv-02847-KJM-KJN