Tonal Broke Calif. Law by Eavesdropping on Visitors to Its Website, Says Class Action
Tonal Systems removed to U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego a June 1 class action filed in California Superior Court in which plaintiff Julie Jones alleges the maker of home gym equipment violated the California Invasion of…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Privacy Act (CIPA) and the state’s Unfair Competition Law, said its notice of removal Friday (docket 3:23-cv-01267). Jones’ claims arise from Tonal’s integration of third parties' software to “secretly wiretap and eavesdrop on the private conversations of users of the chat features on Tonal’s website in real time,” said her complaint. She also seeks to hold Tonal liable for its practice of allowing third parties “to harvest data for financial gain,” it said. Tonal didn’t obtain website visitors' consent “to either the wiretapping or sharing of their private conversations,” it said. As a result, Tonal and the third parties “violated the CIPA in numerous ways,” it said. Tonal disputes Jones’ allegations and that it’s liable to her or the members of her proposed class, said the notice removal. “Tonal specifically reserves all rights to challenge the Complaint on all available grounds,” it said.