A suit has been filed against GameStop accusing the retailer of recording conversations customers have with the company's support team, and sharing them with a third party, unbeknownst to the customers being recorded.
As reported by Bloomberg, the class action suit was filed by Miguel A. Licea, and accuses the company of violating California's Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The act states that websites cannot create transcripts of visitors’ conversations, or share them with third parties, without obtaining consent from all parties involved.
According to the suit, GameStop has shared "the secret transcripts with Zendesk, a third party that publicly boasts about its ability to harvest highly personal data from chat transcripts for sales and marketing purposes."
Customers are reportedly not informed of that their conversations are being shared with Zendesk, harvesting what Licea's lawyers call "highly personal and sensitive data."
The suit condemns GameStop's conduct as "both illegal and offensive."
For what it's worth, Zendesk is an American customer service provider, which likely explains why GameStop shared the transcripts with it. Neither company has yet commented on the suit.
This article was originally published on dbltap as GameStop Sued Over Alleged Customer 'Wiretapping'.
