Tim Hull reports on a case that privacy advocates should keep our eyes on:
An unemployed man can sue the website Spokeo.com for inaccurately describing him as wealthy and well educated, the 9th Cicuit ruled Tuesday.
Virginia resident Thomas Robins claims that his job search has been hampered by a description of him as a high earner with a graduate degree on Spokeo, a search engine that aggregates information about individuals.
Alleging that the misinformed profile violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Robins proposed a 2010 class action against Spokeo in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright dismissed Robins’s first complaint for lack of standing, and eventually did the same with an amended complaint. The judge found that Robins had failed to show that he had suffered any actual harm.
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court reversed Tuesday.
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