Grinnell College faces class-action lawsuit alleging privacy violations
Grinnell College faces class-action lawsuit alleging privacy violations
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/grinnell-college-faces-class-action-202820184.html
Publish Date: 2026-05-19 16:28:00
Source Domain: www.yahoo.com
A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against Iowa’s Grinnell College, alleging the school “secretly sells, shares and tracks” data collected from users of its website.
Attorneys for Eyal Hanfling, a resident of New York, are seeking class-action status for the civil lawsuit they have filed against Grinnell College in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
The lawsuit claims the private, liberal arts college operates a website through which users can apply for admission and financial aid, create and manage user accounts through college-related portals, and access educational, administrative, and support services.
The website allegedly displays a “cookie banner” purporting to give users meaningful control over what data the site shares with third parties, with users informed that the site will not use cookies to track users unless they click a button marked, “I Agree.”
The lawsuit claims that assurance is false. “The website begins placing and transmitting cookies and other third-party tracking technologies capable of intercepting and transmitting users’ data, including communications, the moment users visit the website — before they can interact with the cookie banner,” the lawsuit asserts.
According to the lawsuit, the site’s tools collect detailed information from users, including data entered into search fields, forms that are submitted, email addresses, and approximate geolocation information. The site then uses “tools which transmit users’ sensitive information to the advertising, social media, and analytics companies that designed and operate” those same tools, such as TikTok, Meta, Google and Reddit, the lawsuit alleges.
The cookie banner “misleads users about the use, sharing, and sale of their data,” the lawsuit asserts, adding that the site “lulls users into a false sense of security, privacy, and control, while simultaneously enabling third parties to monitor, intercept, and transmit users’…
