IBM Shared Weather Channel Site Users’ Video Data, Suit Says

The Weather Channel website owner IBM Corp. disclosed the personal information of users who watched videos online—including their location data and viewing history—to advertisers without consent, violating federal privacy law, a proposed class action said.

IBM deployed tracking technology on its weather.com site that shared users’ personally identifiable information and video viewing data with analytics and advertising companies, according to a complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Doing so violated the Video Privacy Protection Act, it said.

The VPPA forbids “video tape service providers” from sharing consumers’ viewing habits and other ...