NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Major League Baseball is one of the latest targets of class action lawyers suing over alleged privacy violations.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), the digital arm of Major League Baseball, is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly violating the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
The plaintiff, Bryan Henry, filed the complaint Feb. 26 on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated. The lawsuit alleges that MLBAM disclosed personal viewing information of its MLB.tv digital subscribers to Facebook without obtaining proper consent.
The information shared includes personally identifiable information or Facebook ID and data related to the prerecorded video viewed by the subscriber. The complaint alleges that MLBAM profits from this unauthorized disclosure by building more targeted advertising on its website, thereby generating greater revenue.
The plaintiff argues that this practice violates subscribers' privacy rights and their statutory rights under VPPA. He seeks legal and equitable remedies to stop MLBAM's practices of intentionally disclosing personal viewing information to Facebook.
Andrew Shamis of Shamis & Gentile represents the plaintiff, as does Adam Schwartzbaum of Edelsberg Law.