This month, Trusted Media Brands, Inc. ("TMBI")
– the publisher of Reader's Digest, Every Day with
Rachael Ray and other popular magazines – settled a federal
class action lawsuit in Manhattan for over $8 million, reinforcing
the importance of consulting with an experienced privacy lawyer
when collecting and/or selling customers' personally
identifiable information ("PII").
How can businesses working with data brokers protect themselves
from similar legal risk?
PPPA Class Action Lawsuit
In March 2016, a class action plaintiff sued TMBI in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No.
16-cv-1812). The named plaintiff alleged in the complaint
that TMBI collected customer PII (including information regarding
customers' magazine choices) and sold such information to
third-party data brokers, in purported violation of Michigan's
Preservation of Personal Privacy Act ("PPPA").
