Is The Las Vegas Cosmopolitan Guilty?

I always enjoy seeing generic pieces of mail show up on the doorstep. Sometimes it’s a credit card offer, sometimes I’ve won my 1,657th cruise. But the one I got the other day was something different, something special, something magical.

Yes, in a world of class action lawsuits I had received a notice that I was part of another class action lawsuit. But this one is special. This one hits home. This one involves me, a class action plaintiff, against The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. And the reason was actually quite disturbing.

The accusation is that the Cosmo knowingly recorded phone calls made to and from residents of California, a big big no no on privacy grounds in one of the most liberal states in the country. Why is it disturbing? Recording me while I’m betting in your casino is one thing. Recording my phone calls without me knowing it is quite another. In a world where we’ve learned that spying on the public has become the norm from the government, a corporate entity knowingly doing it is much worse.

So is Cosmo guilty? Who knows. But they were willing to make the problem go away with a nearly $15 million dollar settlement. So my form has been submitted and the lesson, to never believe I’m not being recorded anywhere in a casino including in my own room, has been learned.

Maybe I’ll hit a tiny jackpot without even setting foot in Nevada.

Update 12 May 2016 : The (Some) People VS The Cosmopolitan Lawsuit