The suit was filed against Netherlands-based Midstream Media N.V., which owns and operates YouPorn, YouPornGay and YouPornCocks, at Quebec Superior Court by Gareth Hedges on behalf of other Canadian residents who visited the YouPorn sites.
A suit seeking class action was filed last December in the U.S. by two Newport Beach, Calif., residents who made the same claims against the porn company.
The Canadian filing claims that YouPorn intentionally and knowingly used “history sniffing” technology and exploited a Javascript security flaw to capture personal information from users without their knowledge or consent.
“Particularly troubling were the clear attempts on the respondent’s part to disguise its operation and hide what is was doing from its website visitors,” the suit said.
The suit also said that the “YouPorn sites promote themselves as vehicles to obtain and share free pornographic media and make content generated by third-parties available to their viewers.”
The suit seeks class action status, damages and a court order to permanently stop YouPorn from using “history sniffing” techniques to obtain customer information.