The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, based in Chicago, has given its approval of Redbox’s practices for disclosing customer information to a third party regarding customer service issues.
In a recent ruling, the judges said the method Redbox Automated Retail uses to disclose customer info to a third party regarding customer service is lawful under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
Redbox is known nationally by its kiosks which let customers rent DVDs and Blu-ray discs. They are located most frequently at grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies.
Customer service is handled by Stream Global Services through a call center, and Redbox gives Stream Global access to its customer service data, when needed.
“Stream provides customer service to Redbox users when, for example, a customer encounters technical problems at a kiosk and requires help from a live person. In such an event, the Redbox customer can call the phone number listed on the machine to speak to a customer service representative to troubleshoot the issue,” according to the court’s ruling. “So that Stream can perform Redbox’s customer service functions, Redbox has granted Stream access to the database in which Redbox stores relevant customer information.”
However, the plaintiffs in the case, Kevin Sterk and Jiah Chung, claimed Redbox improperly disclosed personal information. They claimed the method violated the VPPA because the company disclosed and retained personally identifiable information (PII) in violation of the VPPA. The VPPA calls for destroying customers’ PII after it is not needed, according to a report from Bloomberg BNA.
The ruling notes that Stream can access customer rental histories, when prompted by a customer call, and the histories are used in employee training.
Last year, a federal district court said Redbox’s disclosing of PII to Stream Global was allowed under the VPPA, and classified it as “request processing” during the ordinary course of business.
“By alleging that Redbox disclosed their personal information in violation of the VPPA, Sterk and Chung have met their burden of demonstrating that they suffered an injury in fact that success in the suit would redress,” the appeals court said in the ruling.
Yet the judges said the disclosure of the information was within the VPPA's ordinary course of business exception. The judges thus affirmed the decision by the federal district court.