Magazine Publishers Swamped With Class Actions Over Alleged Disclosures of Mich. Subscriber Data

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The publishers of Forbes, Newsweek, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Mother Jones, CNET and a handful of other magazines/newspapers have been hit with proposed class actions that allege they unlawfully rented, exchanged and/or otherwise disclosed without consent subscribers’ information to third parties who in turn shared it with “aggressive advertisers, political organizations, and non-profit companies.” 

The similarly worded lawsuits, filed last week in Michigan’s Eastern District, allege the publishers have violated the state’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act (MPPPA), which prohibits the unauthorized disclosure of customer-identifying records pertaining to purchases or rentals of books or other written materials. Other publishers named in the complaints, which allege violations of the MPPPA prior to July 31, 2016, are those behind the magazines Mother Earth News, Golf, The Progressive Farmer, Guideposts, Entrepreneur, Outside, PGA, Farm Journal, Charisma, Crochet!, Model Railroader, Archeology and The Nation. 

According to the filings, each defendant, listed at the bottom of this page, maintains a vast digital database of subscribers’ private reading information. This data, the cases allege, is disclosed to data aggregators, appenders and brokers who then supplement the information with “additional sensitive private information” about each customer. From there, customer data rented and/or exchanged by third parties sprawls out to other parties, including consumer-facing businesses, non-profits, and political groups, the suits say. 

One result of the defendants’ conduct, the cases claim, is that proposed class members have received “a barrage of unwanted junk mail.” According to the suits, the defendants’ apparent subscriber data renting/exchanging/disclosure efforts, as opposed to selling the information outright, have allowed the companies to share it time and again to countless third parties as a means to supplement their revenues. 

According to the filings, information shared without consent by the publishers includes subscribers’ full names, the titles of the publications they subscribe to and home addresses in addition to “myriad other categories of individualized data,” including demographic details. 

The suits charge that the companies’ alleged data sharing is particularly dangerous in that it allows certain vulnerable members of society to be targeted:

“For example, anyone could buy a customer list provided by Forbes that contains the names and addresses of all women in Michigan who subscribe to Forbes magazine. Such a list is available for sale on the open market for approximately $165.00 per thousand subscribers listed.” 

The lawsuits look to represent all Michigan residents who, at any point prior to July 30, 2016, had their private reading information disclosed to third parties by the respective publisher defendants without consent. The full list of cases filed last week and publisher defendants can be found below.

Schilz v. Forbes Media, LLC 

Raymond v. Ogden Publications Inc. 

Gallagher v. EB Golf Media LLC 

Ulsh v. DTN, Inc. 

Taylor v. Guideposts A Church Corporation 

Eberhardt v. Newsweek LLC

Ouellette v. Entrepreneur Media, Inc. 

Loftus v. Outside Integrated Media, LLC 

Kain v. the Economist Newspaper NA, Inc. 

Hamilton v. Harvard Business Publishing Corporation

Green v. PGA Magazine Publications & Marketing Group

Hall v. Farm Journal, Inc.

Hester et al. v. Plus Communications Inc. 

Devroy v. Annie’s Publishing, LLC 

Owen v. Kalmbach Media Co. 

Krassick v. Archaeological Institute of America 

Meahl v. The Nation Company LLC 

Vanocker v. Foundation for National Progress 

Bebber v. CNET Media, Inc. 

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