Avis Budget Group Recorded Web User Data Without Consent, Class Action Alleges

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Avis Budget Group has been hit with a proposed class action that claims the rental car company “intentionally intercepted” online visitors’ electronic communications by utilizing “session replay” spyware on its websites. 

According to the 21-page case, the web-tracking technology captured and recorded users’ interactions with the pages on Budget.com, Avis.com and BudgetTruck.com and allowed for playback as well as real-time monitoring.  The recorded visitor communications included “how they interacted with the websites, their mouse movements and clicks, keystrokes, search terms, information inputted into the websites, and pages and content viewed while visiting the websites,” the complaint says.

The suit alleges that the recording and storage of this data was done “in a manner that was undetectable” by web users and performed without their knowledge or consent. 

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Per the case, the collection of data communications by Avis Budget Group violates the privacy rights of website visitors under Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA).  Further, by storing users’ data, the defendant risks the exposure of this sensitive information to outside parties and puts web visitors in danger of “identity theft, online scams, and other unwanted behavior,” the suit stresses.

Though the stated objective of “session replay” spyware is ostensibly to monitor the functionality of websites that use it, the lawsuit contends that “the level and detail of information surreptitiously collected by Defendant indicates that the only purpose was to gain an unlawful understanding of the habits and preferences of users to its Websites, and the information collected was solely for Defendant’s own benefit.”

According to the proposed case, Avis Budget Group knowingly utilized the Quantum Metric and Microsoft Clarity software to monitor and record user interactions with its websites as soon as they entered the pages. As the plaintiff describes, the spyware program not only allowed for real-time monitoring and storage of her interactions with the sites but also made it possible for the defendant to play back the data later. The suit alleges that one of the objectives of using such technology to intercept users’ communications was to gain insight into the “personal preferences and likes” of consumers, which Avis Budget Group could then use to tailor its advertising.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone residing in Pennsylvania who visited Budget.com, Avis.com or BudgetTruck.com and whose data communications were recorded by the defendant without consent.

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