Class Action Seeks to Halt The Gap’s Use of Tracking Pixels to Spy on Email Recipients

The Gap used a hidden embedded tracking system to collect, obtain and track the time and place where Ivonne Carbajal and other Arizona consumers opened the clothing retailer’s marketing emails, alleged Carbajal’s class action Tuesday (docket 2:24-cv-01056) in U.S. District Court for Arizona. The tracking system was provided by co-defendant PaeDae, doing business as Gimbal, and operating as Infillion, said the complaint. The system also enabled The Gap to discern the average read time of an email, the number of times an email was opened and whether an email was printed or forwarded, said the complaint. It enabled the retailer to learn the type of device a recipient used to access the email, it said. The Gap uses Infillion’s hidden embedded email tracking pixels to monitor the behavior of Carbajal and that of other Arizona residents, it said. Infillion obtains, stores and uses the collected data and communication service records “to paint a uniquely identifiable detailed picture” of consumers’ interests “to create targeted advertising campaigns for The Gap,” it said. The Maricopa County resident’s claims are brought under Arizona’s Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act, which prohibits a person from knowingly obtaining a communication service record of any Arizona resident without the authorization of the person to whom the record pertains or by fraudulent, deceptive or false means, said the complaint. The Gap and Infillion never received consent from Carbajal and the class members to collect and track their communication service records, and they used "deceptive means" to collect and track those records, it said.