Electronics Firm Violated CIPA During Website Chats, Says Calif. Plaintiff
JPJ Electronics violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) when it didn’t disclose that a website chat was being monitored, intercepted or recorded, alleged plaintiff Sylvia Garcia in a class action (docket 2:23-cv-3463) removed Friday from Superior Court of…
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Los Angeles County to U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles. Garcia, a California resident, had a brief conversation with a chat agent on www.dashcam.co while on the company’s website without being told it was monitored, intercepted or recorded, alleged the complaint. The Texas-based company sells surveillance devices to trucking fleets, the complaint said. The dashcam.co domain name was listed as available for sale Monday. Garcia alleged JPJ “enables and allows” third parties, including Smartsupp and Shopify, to eavesdrop on chats to intercept and store chat communications transcripts without informing website visitors, alleged the complaint. Meta integrates its software with the third-party software and generates revenue by selling advertising space through its platforms’ ability to identify users’ interests. Facebook and WhatsApp then “bombard the unsuspecting website visitors with targeted advertising” based on the user’s website visits and interactions, said the complaint. The defendant, the third-party software company and Meta profit from “secretly exploiting” private chat data through targeted social media, the complaint said. Defendant’s chat communications from its website are transmitted to website visitors by cell phone or landline, as defined by CIPA, it said. Plaintiff seeks an injunction against JPJ for alleged CIPA violations, statutory damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.