For Immediate Release
(New York, NY, 8/17/2021) – A group of California civil rights activists defeated Thomson Reuters’s motion to dismiss their class action lawsuit accusing the company of illegally selling Californians’ data without consent. The ruling was made yesterday by U.S District Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California. The lawsuit claims that Thomson Reuters’s CLEAR database collects millions of Californians’ utility records, criminal histories, credit reports, photographs, and other records and sells that data to private companies, police, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of prominent civil rights groups and law firms from across the country: Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), Justice Catalyst Law, Gupta Wessler PLLC, and Gibbs Law Group LLP.
SEE: Order Granting In Part and Denying In Part Defendant’s Motion To Dismiss
https://www.stopspying.org/s/2021-0816-53-cand-ORDER-by-Judge-Edward-M-Chen-Granting-in-Part-and-Denying-in-Part-28-Defendants-Mo.pdf
In partially denying Thomson Reuter’s motion to dismiss, Judge Chen found CLEAR’s “harm to Plaintiffs is tremendous: an all-encompassing invasion of Plaintiffs’ privacy, whereby virtually everything about them…is transmitted to strangers without their knowledge, let alone their consent.” In addition, Judge Chen found that Thomson Reuters failed to demonstrate that its CLEAR dossiers are in the public interest.
The CLEAR database has come under increasing scrutiny in for enabling ICE to purchase invasive data on hundreds of millions of Americans.
SEE: Washington Post - Activists are suing Thomson Reuters over its sale of personal data
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/18/technology-202-activists-are-suing-thomson-reuters-over-its-sale-personal-data/
Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Complaint
https://www.stopspying.org/s/Brooks-v-Thomson-Reuters-Complaint-t5y9.pdf
Headshot – Cat Brooks
https://www.stopspying.org/s/Cat-headshot.jpg
Headshot – Rasheed Shabazz
https://www.stopspying.org/s/shabazz_rasheed_headshot.jpeg
“As an activist, it is extremely important to me to maintain control over the dissemination of personal information about me and my family,” said plaintiff Cat Brooks “As a single mother who receives hate mail, it is terrifying to me that Thomson Reuters offers its customers extensive access to my personal information just so it can make a profit. I am bringing this lawsuit to stop Thomson Reuters from selling a product premised on non-consensual invasions of my privacy and the privacy of all Californians.”
“I do not want this corporation selling my identity while putting me at risk,” said plaintiff Rasheed Shabazz.
“This is a landmark holding for protecting the public’s privacy,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “For years, data brokers have profited while using our own information to help put Americans behind bars. It’s immoral, it’s illegal, and it must stop. This ruling shows that Thomson Reuters cannot weaponize the First Amendment to protect its surveillance products.”
Plaintiffs originally filed their complaint in California Superior Court on December 3rd, 2020. In February, Thomson Reuters removed the lawsuit to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The putative class action lawsuit seeks to stop Thomson Reuters from selling Californians’ identities without their consent, and seeks damages for the millions of Californians whose personal data the company has put up for sale. .
SEE: Notice of Removal
https://www.stopspying.org/s/2021-02-26-Brooks-v-Thomson-Reuters-USDC-Notice-of-Removal-Exs-A-B-C.pdf
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider hosted by the Urban Justice Center. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state -level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.
Justice Catalyst Law, Inc. is a nonprofit law firm that develops and litigates cases with broad-scale, real-world impact, emphasizing commercial and private rights violations that underlie social and economic injustice. With offices in New York and Washington, D.C., Justice Catalyst Law works nationally to bring impact cases in the fields of antitrust, consumer law, employment law, and more on behalf of those denied access to justice. For more information, visit www.justicecatalyst.org.
California-based Gibbs Law Group LLP represents consumers, whistleblowers, and employees across the U.S. against the world’s largest corporations. Our award-winning lawyers have achieved landmark recoveries and over a billion dollars for our clients in high-stakes complex lawsuits and individual cases involving consumer protection, data breach, digital privacy, and employment law.
Gupta Wessler PLLC is a national appellate, constitutional, and complex litigation boutique. We brief and argue high-stakes cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and courts across the country. Through all of our efforts, we aim to help shape the law in ways that enhance justice and improve people’s lives
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CONTACT: S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn;
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