Two privacy class actions filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles allege dating platforms eHarmony and Grindr collected and retained biometric information from Illinois users in violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The Beligan Law Group filed both actions.
An Apple customer has been denied access to 30 years’ worth of his data because Apple allowed hackers to exploit a known flaw in the company’s data security that allows unauthorized third parties to gain access to victims’ accounts and change the recovery key, alleged a complaint Tuesday (docket 5:24-cv-00272) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose.
The parties in a privacy class action weren’t able to resolve the case in mediation, said a notification Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-04953) of a status hearing in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. Plaintiffs plan to amend the complaint by Feb. 1. Defendants ByteDance and its CapCut videoediting app will file a responsive pleading by Feb. 29, said the filing. Defendants plan to file a Rule 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and possibly a Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, it said. If a motion is filed, plaintiffs’ response is due by April 16 with defendants’ reply due May 14, it said. Plaintiffs Evelia Rodriguez, Erikka Wilson and Wilson’s 14-year-old daughter, A.N., sued the defendants in September (see 2309280020) for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Unfair Competition Law and the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act. ByteDance and TikTok “unjustly profit from the secret harvesting of a massive array of private and personally identifiable CapCut user data and content,” alleged the complaint. They use the information for targeted advertising, for making improvements to their AI technologies and for bolstering consumer demand for their other goods and services, it said. The complaint also alleges A.N. was able to open a CapCut account without her mother's consent.