Farmville User Sues Zynga for Privacy Violation

A St. Paul, Minnesota woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against social gaming giant Zynga after learning that the company’s apps, such as Farmville, unknowingly leaked private information on millions of users to advertisers and data brokers.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Francisco, Calif., alleges that sharing such private information is in violation of federal law and Zynga’s contract with Facebook. The class action seeks monetary relief for those whose data was wrongly shared, according to a press release by the law firm representing plaintiff Nancy Graf, and injunctive relief to prevent continued privacy abuses.

“This appears to be another example of an online company failing the American public with empty promises to respect individual privacy rights,” explained Michael Aschenbrener of Edelson McGuire LLC, co-lead attorney for the class action.

“Companies large and small need to learn to follow through on their privacy promises or risk having consumers decide that it is simply not worth it to use their services,” added Kassra Nassiri of Nassiri & Jung LLP, co-lead attorney for the lawsuit.