Supreme Court case pits privacy rights against Internet data brokers

The Supreme Court is set to hear a clash between privacy laws that protect American consumers and the desire of online data providers to avoid potentially crippling lawsuits if they post inaccurate information on the Web. He had claimed his job prospects were hurt by Spokeo’s inaccurate profile, but U.S. District Judge Otis Wright called that “speculative” and “implausible.” Robins did better at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which revived his case. Congress gave Americans protection against inaccurate credit reports, Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote, ruling that the “alleged violations of Robins’s statutory rights are sufficient” to give him his day in court. This is no time for the court to make it harder to bring lawsuits against companies that are making money for the data of individuals,” said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Judge Wright, when he dismissed the case, said that a simple violation of the Federal Credit Reporting Act does not by itself confer standing because if it did, “the federal courts be inundated by Web surfers’ endless complaints.” But the 9th Circuit, in its ruling, said that all a plaintiff would need to show to get into court was that a statutory right had been violated.