In July 2026, Spokeo, a prominent online people-search website, agreed to a $10 million preliminary settlement to resolve a massive, multi-state class action lawsuit. The settlement puts an end to over five years of complex litigation centered around the unauthorized commercial use of everyday people's personal information. For individuals who are increasingly concerned about how their names, addresses, and backgrounds are leveraged for corporate profit, this resolution marks a major legal victory and a step toward establishing stronger digital boundaries.

The Lawsuit: The Controversy Over "Teaser Profiles"

Unlike most cases involving individuals' personal data, the core of the dispute in this case did not involve a malicious cyberattack, a database leak, or a traditional data breach exposing sensitive financial records to hackers. Instead, the plaintiffs took direct aim at Spokeo’s aggressive marketing practices and business model. As a massive data aggregator, Spokeo collects, compiles, and cross-references vast amounts of publicly available information—including names, current and past addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses—into easily searchable public profiles.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that Spokeo utilized their personal information to generate what they called "teaser profiles". According to court filings, Spokeo actively displayed these teaser profiles, which prominently featured real names and home addresses, to casual site visitors as a targeted marketing tactic. The ultimate goal was to entice these visitors into purchasing paid premium subscriptions to the Spokeo database. The plaintiffs fundamentally argued that by weaponizing their personal identities and data to promote a commercial service without their knowledge or consent, Spokeo had crossed a critical legal and ethical line, causing harm stemming from a distinct loss of control over their personal information.

Right of Publicity: A Unique Legal Approach

Rather than relying on standard consumer protection or data breach statutes, the plaintiffs leveraged a unique and highly effective legal framework: state right of publicity laws. These specific statutes generally prohibit corporations and individuals from utilizing an individual's name, likeness, or identity for advertising or commercial gain without obtaining prior authorization.

The original lawsuit was filed in November 2021 by three plaintiffs asserting claims under California, Ohio, and Indiana law. Spokeo aggressively fought the claims, initially moving to dismiss the case by arguing that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing. However, the court denied the motion to dismiss in April 2022, paving the way for extensive written discovery, document production, depositions, and expert analysis. In 2024, Judge William H. Orrick certified a class of Californians and a class of Ohioans—totaling roughly 275,000 individuals—allowing the case to move forward. Ultimately, the proposed settlement grew to encompass, and resolve right of publicity claims across, nine states: Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington.

Breaking Down the $10 Million Settlement

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Spokeo will be required to establish nine state-specific settlement funds that cumulatively amount to $10 million. Crucially, the settlement designates these funds as entirely non-reversionary, which means that any unclaimed money left over after the initial claims period will not simply be returned to Spokeo's pockets. Instead, any remaining funds will be systematically redistributed to claiming class members where practicable, or otherwise handled according to the specific directives of the court.

How much will individual class members actually receive? The exact payouts will inherently depend on the total number of valid claims filed in each respective state, as well as necessary deductions for attorneys' fees, administrative costs, and court-approved incentive awards. However, assuming an estimated 10% claims rate, legal filings suggest that individual recoveries could range anywhere from tens of dollars to well over $1,000, depending heavily on the state jurisdiction.

Beyond the financial compensation, the settlement also demands meaningful injunctive relief designed to fundamentally alter Spokeo's business practices. Moving forward, Spokeo has formally agreed to modify its search algorithms and user interfaces. When a user conducts a name search, Spokeo must now alter its purchase and payment pages so that the full names and home addresses of individuals in the affected injunction classes will no longer be visible during that critical portion of the transaction.

The Broader Implications for the Information Economy

This landmark $10 million settlement sends a powerful, industry-wide message to data brokers, aggregators, and tech companies alike. The core takeaway is clear: simply aggregating publicly available data does not give a corporation carte blanche to use everyday people's identities as free advertising material. As noted by Morgan & Morgan attorneys representing the plaintiffs following the resolution, "Companies navigating today's information economy routinely put their profits ahead of individuals' rights, and this case is no different. We are pleased that this resolution holds Spokeo accountable for its alleged invasions of people's rights to their information".

For average consumers, this multi-million dollar settlement underscores the critical importance of staying informed and vigilant about thwir digital rights. As the complex legal landscape surrounding data privacy and the right of publicity continues to rapidly evolve, holding powerful data aggregators to strict legal standards will remain absolutely essential in preventing the unauthorized monetization of people's personal lives and identifying information.

The post Spokeo’s $10 Million Settlement: A Major Win for Data Privacy and the Right of Publicity appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Join us for a new, free webinar, "How Data Can Help You Win: Finding Background and Investigative Information to Support Your Cases and Transactions" on Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 2:00 pm EDT at (https://linkon.in/3hmPMXe). (This program is not available for CLE credit.)

Vice-President of CLEwebinars.com Carole Levitt, a leading educator, attorney, law librarian, and ABA author on Internet investigative and legal research, demonstrates how investigative research databases help attorneys quickly and cost-effectively uncover comprehensive background information they need for their cases and transactions.

Carole will be joined by Aleck Ragsdale, a professional training specialist with TransUnion for 5+ years, who has a strong focus and expertise in Law Enforcement and legal investigation training. He has assisted and presented to customers nationwide in their use and understanding of TransUnion data to solve complex business challenges.

After you sign up for this webinar, you'll receive a discount code for 25% off the price of Levitt's new ABA Law Practice Division book, "Internet Legal Research on a Budget: Free and Low-Cost Resources for Lawyers." The discount code will be active through August 31, 2020.

The post Free Investigative Research Webinar | June 17, 2020 appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

While we never received official notification that we passed the site visit, it appears that we must have - because our most recent searches are displaying full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth.

So, the answer to our question about whether a site visit would automatically entitle us to full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth is a resounding “Yes.”

The post Does Passing the Newly Required TLOxp.com Site Visit Automatically Entitle Users to Full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth? appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

For investigative research database searching, we have been recommending TLOxp to lawyers for many years because it was inexpensive and did not require a monthly or annual subscriber fee. While the search began at 0.25 and quickly went up to $1.00 and then $2.00, and the comprehensive report went from $5.00 to $10.00, a subscriber fee was never instituted.

On November 5, 2015, we received an email notifying us that all that is about to change effective January 1, 2016. TLOxp will be instituting a $25 monthly minimum spend requirement. You can avoid this spend requirement if the sum of your monthly usage is greater than $25, but if you fail to meet the $25 monthly minimum, you will be assessed $25.

Another new requirement is that you now must submit to a $60 site visit. In the past, this was optional; you only had to submit to a site visit if you wanted access to full Social Security Numbers and Dates of Birth.  It is unclear if the new site visit requirement will now entitle all users access to full Social Security Numbers and Date of Birth. TLOxp explains the reason for the mandatory site visit this way: “To help ensure the highest standards for data security, TransUnion is conducting a periodic compliance validation, including updating information we maintain about users and your organization. This includes conducting a site visit for the location from where you access the TLOxp account.” 

Unlike the new $25 minimum monthly spend, the site visit won’t actually cost you anything because, “Your invoice will be credited back $10 per month over a six-month period starting in January 2016, once the compliance validation is performed.” TLOxp has given customers very little notice to complete their site visit—it must be completed by December 15, 2015.  During the site visit, TLOxp will be looking at four main areas at your office:

1. Verification that the company information provided during the credentialing process is accurate. This covers questions such as whether your company is located at the address provided, and if it appears to be operating as the business type represented.
2. Security review around how the information is accessed. Is there a keyed locked office and a locking filing cabinet, an alarm or security present, the computers accessing systems limited to employees only, and screens situated to where only employees can view the screens, etc.
3. Information destruction. Shredders or a service that provides secure document destruction is common.
4. Secure storage of information obtained from the system. Locks on the file cabinets or file rooms where printed reports may be stored would be expected. Antivirus or security software should be installed on systems that will be accessing the data

If you are operating from a home-based location, prior to the site visit, TLOxp wants a documented response about the following issues, within five (5) calendar days of your $60 site visit payment:

1. Whether the office is in a dedicated space, separate from the living quarters. The office must be for the sole use of the business and not located in a multi-use room. Indications of multi-use include beds, recreational equipment such as pool tables, and exercise machines.
2. Whether the dedicated office space is separated by a keyed lockable door.
3. Whether secure storage for any printed reports or documents in the form of a lockable file cabinet exists.

The post TLOxp Raises Prices, Requires Site Visit for All Subscribers appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

We recently wrote this overview of our current favorite pay investigative research database TLOxp for the Attorney at Work Website.

The day it was published, we learned about this new "Relationship Report" that TLO offers.

The post Every Lawyer’s Investigative Research Database – TLOxp appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

In an e-mail to customers, TransUnion | TLOxp said:

Your new rates for these items beginning on January 1, 2015, will be:

• • Transactional Searches will be charged $2.00
  • Transactional Comprehensive Report will be charged $10.00
  • Transactional Business Report will be charged $10.00

If you are currently under a per seat or flat rate pricing contract, the searches and reports that are included in your contract are not impacted by this change.

TLOxp (formerly known as TLO.com) is an inexpensive investigative research database (similar to Accurint) that we have written about previously, and often discuss at our seminars and in our books.

The post TransUnion | TLOxp Raises Rates on Investigative Database Searches appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

We have previously written about the availability of this license plate recognition data (LPR; also known as license plate reader data) from the investigative research database TLO.com. Currently, TLO is the only investigative research database/service source we are aware of for that information.

Pending California Senate Bill 893 (SB 893) would extend the period law enforcement could retain LPR data and limit access to this kind of data outside of law enforcement. SB 893 would prohibit the sale of LPR "data for any purpose" or the sharing of LPR data "to an agency that is not a law enforcement agency or an individual who is not a law enforcement officer."

Additionally, under current California law, LPR data cannot be retained for more than 60 days. SB 893 seemingly extends that period beyond five years but limits access to data held for more than five years "only for law enforcement purposes, pursuant to warrant or other court order."

With an apparent aim to protect the privacy of California residents, SB 893 also contains a provision that allows "an individual whose information is sold or disclosed in violation of this title [to] bring a civil action and shall be entitled to recover any and all consequential and incidental damages, including all costs and attorney’s fees."

According to TLO's original press release announcing their "Vehicle Sightings" license plate reader database, their collection encompasses "a massive database of one BILLION vehicle sightings and the addition of up to 50 million new sightings each month." "Vehicle Sightings provides valuable information for locating subjects and investigating the historical whereabouts of individuals and vehicles." While it is not stated how these sightings are captured, law enforcement agencies and auto reposession companies have been utilizing similar license plate capturing technology for some time.

At a recent live MCLE investigative research seminar a lawyer told us how he was able to use license plate reader data to locate the vehicle of an individual who had been avoiding service of process - and determine that the location where the vehicle was parked was the individual's place of employment. The attorney was then able to locate the individual and serve the papers. Passage of California SB 893 would apparently end this kind of access to non-law enforcement users in California.

The post California Senate Considers Bill Limiting Sale of License Plate Data appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Although we have been assured that nothing will be changing (e.g., pricing), TLO has recently changed some of its subscriber requirements (not necessarily related to its sale).

In the past, after you qualified to become a subscriber, you were automatically given access to full SSNs and DOBs – as long as you had an office that was not in your home.  The home office is no longer an issue, but you must now submit to a site visit ($60) if you want to be approved to access full SSNs and DOBs and you must meet the following requirements:

• Your computer must be in a room that has a door that can be locked;
• You must have access to a shredder;
• Your computer must be protected by a password.

The post Investigative Research Database TLO Acquired by TransUnion appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Today we tested out the Advanced Search - Vehicle Sightings database. According to the TLO Web site, "it offers an overview for the sightings of vehicles by license plate. Under 'Sightings Preview' you will find the pictures of the vehicles at the time of the sighting. From this free preview, you will be able to run a detailed Vehicle Sightings Report for Current (last 30 days), Recent (31 to 90 days) and/or Historical (older than 90 days) sightings. The Vehicle Sightings Report will display a picture of the vehicle at the time of the actual sighting, as well as exact date, time, and location (latitude/longitude with a link to maps)."

You can search by full or partial license plate number and can add in a state if you know it. We searched for the two vehicles we own usng the full license plate number and added in the state where the vehicles are registered. The result that was returned was for a vehicle with a slightly different drivers license plate. The results provided a picture of the vehicle (and Sandia Peak in the background), its license plate, the date and time of the sighting, longitude/latitude, and that it was sighted in "Tamaya, NM." (Note that while there is no such town in NM, that is the name of the Santa Ana Pueblo in the tribe's native language.)

While the content of the results are very impressive, bringing back a wrong result was not useful. If there were no results for the license plate we searched, it would be better to have been informed there were no results instead of trying to bring back a sighting of a vehicle with a license plate number that was close to our number.

In response to our clicking the "Unhappy" button that accompanied TLO's results for this search, we received the following response from TLO Customer Support:

"Licence [sic] Plate Recognition (LPR) software, along with optical recognition software in general, has gotten a lot more accurate over the years. However it isn't perfect yet and there are still some characters that give them trouble I's an 1's and 7's and T's for instance. This is why we give you the Sightings Preview to view before you run the report."

The post Investigative Research Database TLO Offers Vehicle Sightings Database appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.