Want to stay current on e–commerce law? Sign up for Email Newsletter.
Supermarket Chain Faces Privacy Lawsuit
American supermarket chain Albertsons is facing a lawsuit over the privacy rights of its pharmacies' customers.
Over a dozen major pharmaceutical companies are named as well, for having bought the customers' medical data and used it to market their products.
A consumer advocacy group, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, is bringing the action, claiming that Albertsons and its pharmacies (SavOn, Osco and Jewel-Osco) sold confidential information about thousands of their customers to the drug companies. Based on this information, the drug companies then contacted the customers to remind them to renew prescriptions or to suggest alternative medications.
Through its attorneys, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse said that the defendant companies compounded the deception by presenting the practice as a way to improve customer health, when it was really an attempt to make more money.
Though U.S. privacy law does not strictly forbid the practice, the suit was launched in San Diego, where state law is more stringent. California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act prohibits pharmacies from selling, sharing or otherwise using medical information for any purpose.
Albertsons has vowed to defend itself against the allegations, maintaining that it never sold the private information of its pharmacy customers.
For more information, visit:
http://albertsonprivacysuit.notlong.com/