Starbucks.com Investigation: Were Your Online Privacy Rights Violated?

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org would like to hear from California, Pennsylvania and Florida residents who went to Starbucks.com and changed their cookie settings to the “required cookies” option via the pop-up presented upon visiting the website.

It’s believed that Starbucks may be continuing to track users even after they’ve declined all but required cookies – that is, those needed for the site to function properly.

Now, attorneys are gathering consumers to take action against Starbucks over possible privacy violations.

How Could My Privacy Possibly Have Been Violated?

Upon visiting Starbucks.com, consumers are prompted to either accept all cookies or change their settings to allow for only certain types of cookies. Specifically, Starbucks.com visitors are presented with the following options:

Required Cookies: These cookies are required to enable core site functionality.

Helpful Cookies: These cookies allow us to analyze site usage so we can measure and improve performance.

Advertising Cookies: These cookies are used by advertising companies to serve ads that are relevant to your interests.”

Attorneys suspect that, even when consumers select the “required cookies” option, the site may not actually be turning off all unnecessary cookies, possibly continuing to track users’ online activity. It’s now being investigated whether the company broke certain privacy and wiretapping laws.

Am I Signing Up for a Class Action Lawsuit?

No, you are signing up to take part in a process known as “mass arbitration.” Mass arbitrations share some similarities – and differences – with class action lawsuits, but still allow a large group of consumers the opportunity to take action against a company over an alleged wrongdoing.

Starbucks.com’s terms of use contain a clause that states visitors to the site agree to resolve “most disputes” through arbitration, a type of alternative dispute resolution that is less formal than a lawsuit and takes place outside the courtroom before a neutral third-party arbitrator. It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org are looking to handle this potential online privacy matter as a mass arbitration, as opposed to a class action lawsuit.

Below you will find a short explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:

“[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up by getting the company to agree to a quick settlement instead of arbitrating every claim and paying the costly upfront fees.”

How Much Does It Cost to Sign Up?

It costs nothing to sign up. Plus, you only have to pay if the attorneys win your claim – their payment will come as a percentage of your award. It’s possible that Starbucks.com visitors could be owed $500 or more.

Sign Up and Take Action 

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