Courts Should Have Jurisdiction over Foreign Companies Collecting Data on Local Residents, EFF Tells Appeals Court

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This post was written by EFF legal intern Danya Hajjaji. 

Corporations should not be able to collect data from a state’s residents while evading the jurisdiction of that state’s courts, EFF and the UC Berkeley Center for Consumer Law and Economic Justice explained in a friend-of-the-court brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The case, Briskin v. Shopify, stems from a California resident’s privacy claims against Shopify, Inc. and its subsidiaries, out-of-state companies that process payments for third party ecommerce companies (collectively “Shopify”). The plaintiff alleged that Shopify secretly collected data on the plaintiff and other California consumers while purchasing apparel from an online California-based retailer. Shopify also allegedly tracked the users’ browsing activities across all ecommerce sites that used Shopify’s services. Shopify allegedly compiled that information into comprehensive user profiles, complete with financial “risk scores” that companies could use to block users’ future purchases.  

The Ninth Circuit initially dismissed the lawsuit for lack of personal jurisdiction and ruled that Shopify, an out-of-state defendant, did not have enough contacts with California to be fairly sued in California. 

Personal jurisdiction is designed to protect defendants’ due process rights by ensuring that they cannot be hailed into court in jurisdictions that they have little connection to. In the internet context, the Ninth Circuit has previously held that operating a website, plus evidence that the defendant did “something more” to target a jurisdiction, is sufficient for personal jurisdiction.  

The Ninth Circuit originally dismissed Briskin on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to show the defendant did “something more.” It held that violating all users’ privacy was not enough; Shopify would have needed to do something to target Californians in particular.  

The Ninth Circuit granted reh

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