A federal judge denied the Golden State Warriors’ motion to dismiss an amended lawsuit alleging that the NBA champions recorded private conversations through their mobile app.
Jeffrey White, a judge for the Northern District of California, originally dismissed the class action complaint, which was filed by New York resident LaTisha Satchell last year, but ruled recently that the revised suit can proceed against the Warriors and beacon-technology company Signal360 for a possible violation of the Wiretap Act.
White did, however, remove YinzCam, the original developer for the app, as a defendant, arguing that it was not a principal actor of the alleged infractions.
After the initial dismissal, Satchell re-filed in March and provided specific examples of at least four instances in which she had her phone with her and the app running during private conversations, including about non-public business matters.
The Warriors’ app, as equipped with Signal360 technology, can access a user’s microphone to listen for unique beacon signals at their home venue, Oracle Arena. The suit alleges that the app never prompted users for permission to use this feature and would “(i) record all audio at all times—which would necessarily include users’ private conversations—and then (ii) analyze that recorded audio for beacon tones.”
This would provide location data for targeted advertisements to fans attending games. The complaint alleged that Signal360’s software operated like an eavesdropping bug that “temporarily recorded audio and retained portions of the audio for further analysis.”
“While we normally do not comment on pending litigation, the allegations in this lawsuit are purely fanciful and wholly without merit,” the Warriors said in a statement to SB Nation. “Our app has never been used to listen to any conversations. Period.”
The ruling gave the Warriors and Signal360 until Friday, Dec. 8 to answer the complaint.