California sued Delta Airlines
Inc. on Thursday, alleging the Atlanta-based company is breaking state
law by not warning users that the airline is collecting sensitive
information each time customers contact the company on its "Fly Delta"
mobile application.
Attorney General Kamala Harris filed the suit in San
Francisco Superior Court in the first legal test of the state's
8-year-old Online Privacy Protection Act.
California is the only state with such a law, which
requires companies to prominently notify users of their mobile apps
about what personally identifiable information is being collected and
how it will be used.
Harris says the company missed a 30-day window to
comply with the privacy law on its "Fly Delta" app, which is designed
for use on smartphones and other mobile devices. Customers can log on to
check in for a flight, review reservations, book flights and pay for
checked baggage.
The lawsuit alleges the site lacks privacy warnings
even though it collects the customer's full name, telephone number,
email and mailing address, along with more sensitive information like
birth dates and credit card numbers.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black said company policy prohibits him from commenting on pending litigation.
Harris, a Democrat, is seeking an injunction barring
Delta from distributing the application until it posts a privacy policy.
She is asking for a penalty of up to $2,500 for each violation, though
the lawsuit leaves it up to a judge to determine what constitutes a
violation.
"California
law is clear that mobile apps collecting personal information need
privacy policies, and that the users of those apps deserve to know what
is being done with their personal information," Harris said in a
statement announcing the lawsuit.
Harris previously reached an agreement with seven
companies to warn users about their privacy policy in a consistent,
prominent way before consumers download the mobile application. The
companies agreeing to comply with California's law are Amazon, Apple,
Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Research in Motion.
Credit : Huffington Post
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