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Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

finledger.com

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Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#51

Post by trianglesphere »

shostack wrote: post #10
ve55 wrote: post #2

It is particularly sad how common scenarios this are for users, especially in the US. I have known how terrible applications like Plaid (and alternatives) were, but at various points have been required to use them to do something like pay my rent (this is also a very common theme in my life: I strongly dislike a certain company or app, but find myself required to use them regardless, even knowing that my usage and in…

Part of the challenge is there is no great way to easily get my data out of banks and accessible in one place. Business model aside, they do solve a real problem in a space where there are no real incentives for banks to provide their own solution. I'd love to see a subscription-based, privacy-focused option with API access targeting the consumer personal finance crowd. I think Tiller may get some of the way there, b…

One problem I have with plaid is that the most common use for them that I see is a company using them in order to setup direct deposit. It's also really hard to figure out how to manually set it up (I usually have to click deny on plaid and then I can input it myself)

I'm not interested in handing over all my info when I can copy and paste two numbers instead

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#52

Post by jeandenis »

akarma wrote: post #29

I actually mentioned in a thread about Plaid in 2018 that they sold transaction history to third parties, and the cofounder came onto HN to explicitly deny that [1]. I actually felt convinced they didn't afterwards, as I couldn't imagine such a direct and clear refutation if it were true. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655417

Hey, CTO from Plaid here. We don’t, and have not, sold data.

https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support

As someone who has overseen our consumer privacy team over the past few years building out products like Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, I can attest this is a foremost priority for the company. FWIIW, I don’t agree with the allegations, and you can read our POV on this blog post.

https://plaid.com/blog/plaids-commitment-to-consumer-privacy...

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#53

Post by buu700 »

meowtimemania wrote: post #45

I’ve used Plaid to login to my bank account. How do I delete all my data from Plaid??

I did this recently (well not all my data, but one bank account). I had to go through customer support, and they had some trouble with it but eventually figured it out.

I'm not a fan of Plaid. The core concept is great, but training users to enter credentials (much less banking credentials) into third-party sites is nuts. Nowadays, it would be easy for someone to pivot from a compromise of a random company's web server to impersonating Plaid and pwning most of their customers' bank accounts.

This would be trivial to fix by deprecating their current UI and switching to a small popup or redirecting to a different URL.

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#54

Post by akarma »

collectedparts wrote: post #49
tartoran wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the cofounder was not telling the truth then?

The cofounder was telling the truth (or, at least, nothing in the lawsuit implies that he was not). The plaintiffs in this case are claiming that when they linked their bank accounts to PayPal/Venmo/etc using Plaid they didn't realize what they were doing, or that it's somehow unfair that Paypal/Venmo/etc got their banking data (despite knowingly inputting their credentials into Paypal/Venmo/etc). Paypal/Venmo/etc is…

The link mentions third party firms:

> Plaid has settled a $58 million class action lawsuit over claims that the fintech firm passed on personal banking data to third party firms without user consent.

and selling transaction histories:

> the plaintiffs alleged that Plaid has “exploited its position as middleman” to obtain app users’ banking login credentials and use that information to gain access to and sell their transaction histories.

For what it's worth I haven't read the actual lawsuit yet, but would love a link if it refutes the article.

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#55

Post by [deleted] »

jeandenis wrote: post #52
akarma wrote: post #29

I actually mentioned in a thread about Plaid in 2018 that they sold transaction history to third parties, and the cofounder came onto HN to explicitly deny that [1]. I actually felt convinced they didn't afterwards, as I couldn't imagine such a direct and clear refutation if it were true. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655417

Hey, CTO from Plaid here. We don’t, and have not, sold data. https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support As someone who has overseen our consumer privacy team over the past few years building out products like Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, I can attest this is a foremost priority for the company. FWIIW, I don’t agree with the allegations, and you can read our POV on this blog post. https://plaid.com/blog/plaids-commitme…

[deleted]

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#56

Post by wheaties »

jeandenis wrote: post #52
akarma wrote: post #29

I actually mentioned in a thread about Plaid in 2018 that they sold transaction history to third parties, and the cofounder came onto HN to explicitly deny that [1]. I actually felt convinced they didn't afterwards, as I couldn't imagine such a direct and clear refutation if it were true. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655417

Hey, CTO from Plaid here. We don’t, and have not, sold data. https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support As someone who has overseen our consumer privacy team over the past few years building out products like Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, I can attest this is a foremost priority for the company. FWIIW, I don’t agree with the allegations, and you can read our POV on this blog post. https://plaid.com/blog/plaids-commitme…

I don't have the time to read and research exactly what happened. I see you settled for a large sum. Thus, I don't believe you. We've all been burned by companies that claim one thing and do the exact opposite. It doesn't matter if legally they are stating things accurately. What matters is how we, a mere human, would believe the plain English phrases used to be construed.

Hope you have success and I have no ill will towards you.

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#57

Post by OnlineGladiator »

jeandenis wrote: post #52
akarma wrote: post #29

I actually mentioned in a thread about Plaid in 2018 that they sold transaction history to third parties, and the cofounder came onto HN to explicitly deny that [1]. I actually felt convinced they didn't afterwards, as I couldn't imagine such a direct and clear refutation if it were true. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655417

Hey, CTO from Plaid here. We don’t, and have not, sold data. https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support As someone who has overseen our consumer privacy team over the past few years building out products like Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, I can attest this is a foremost priority for the company. FWIIW, I don’t agree with the allegations, and you can read our POV on this blog post. https://plaid.com/blog/plaids-commitme…

This really sounds like you're just doubling down without really responding to anything directly. You say you disagree with the allegations - why do you disagree with them? I understand you probably can't speak to this for legal reasons, but this vague rebuttal is worse than saying nothing at all. It just sounds like typical corporate PR, which makes me automatically assume you're lying.

I don't know the details of this case so I have no strong opinions, but this response makes me trust you less, not more.

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#58

Post by akarma »

jeandenis wrote: post #52
akarma wrote: post #29

I actually mentioned in a thread about Plaid in 2018 that they sold transaction history to third parties, and the cofounder came onto HN to explicitly deny that [1]. I actually felt convinced they didn't afterwards, as I couldn't imagine such a direct and clear refutation if it were true. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655417

Hey, CTO from Plaid here. We don’t, and have not, sold data. https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support As someone who has overseen our consumer privacy team over the past few years building out products like Plaid Link and Plaid Portal, I can attest this is a foremost priority for the company. FWIIW, I don’t agree with the allegations, and you can read our POV on this blog post. https://plaid.com/blog/plaids-commitme…

Thank you for the response — I know you're likely very restricted in what you can say here, but:

You just settled a claim that you sold customer transaction histories, and from the article linked, the plaintiffs' lawyers claim that you have agreed to implement meaningful business practice changes to remediate these issues.

(1) If you've never sold transaction histories, why settle a lawsuit alleging that you sold transaction histories?

(2) What meaningful business practice changes could you be making if there's no issue to begin with?

(I'm relying on the article here as a source of truth).

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#59

Post by jeandenis »

meowtimemania wrote: post #45

I’ve used Plaid to login to my bank account. How do I delete all my data from Plaid??

(Plaid CTO here)

You can use the Plaid Portal (https://my.plaid.com) to view what types of data are being shared, to revoke access (to both the apps and Plaid) and delete data stored in Plaid’s systems. You can also put a data deletion request through support.

Not as per my comment above that we don’t, and have not, sold data. https://plaid.com/legal/#consumer-support

Re: Plaid settled $58M lawsuit over alleged consumer data sharing

#60

Post by a-priori »

I just read the settlement document, and it looks like this is being reported incorrectly or at least ambiguously.

The allegation is NOT that they shared/sold data to any third parties but that their Plaid Link user interface, where people enter their banking information to add it to Plaid, looks like the customer's financial institution (i.e, uses the bank's branding colours and logo).

Because of this branding, people can reasonably assume that they are sending that data directly to their bank without knowledge, and therefore consent, to share their information with Plaid itself.

If that understanding is correct then this isn't a business practice or security issue, but a user consent issue. That's a problem that definitely needs to be fixed, and the injunctive relief requires them to change the branding and disclosure to make it clearer that people are interacting with Plaid rather than their bank.

But to me it's definitely not a reason to cancel your account or boycott Plaid or whatever.

https://newmedialaw.proskauer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2...

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