Dow Jones Faces Privacy Lawsuit Over WSJ Customer Data

Dow Jones Company Inc. sold and exchanged Wall Street Journal print subscribers’ personal information to third parties and data collectors without customers’ consent, a proposed class action in Michigan alleged.

Plaintiffs Christopher and Sherree Rentola claimed that the exposure of their WSJ print newspaper subscription information led to junk mail from charities and other organizations, according to their June 16 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

They alleged Dow Jones violated a provision in a Michigan state privacy law that bans any company selling written material from the disclosing “to any person, other than the customer, a record or information concerning the purchase” of materials that indicate customer identity.

The Wall Street Journal published its own marketing practices in one of its articles in 2011, the plaintiffs said, submitting the article as evidence. The article, citing media marketing firm firm NextMark Inc., revealed that the WSJ sells its print-subscriber list to marketers for $170 per 1,000 subscribers for each mailing, according to the complaint.

Subscribers’ reading information and other personal and demographic information, such as gender, age race, ethnicity, income, religion, and political affiliation, were sold to data collectors and other third parties without customers’ written consent, the complaint said.

Causes of Action: Violation of Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act and negligence.

Relief: Class certification; court order declaring violation of PPPA; actual damages; injunctive relief; and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Potential Class Size: “On information and belief, members of the Class number in the tens of thousands. The precise number of Class members and their identities are unknown to Plaintiffs at this time,” according to the suit.

Response: Dow Jones, a subsidiary of News Corp, declined to comment.

Attorneys: Bursor & Fisher, P.A represent the plaintiffs. Counsel for Dow Jones couldn’t be immediately identified.

The case is Rentola v. Dow Jones & Co., Inc., E.D. Mich., No. 20-cv-11589, complaint 6/16/20.