VIA CERTIFIED MAIL—RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
Thorne Research, Inc., Attn: Legal Department,
620 Omni Industrial Blvd,
Summerville, SC 29486
Pre-Arbitration Notice of Individual Consumer Privacy Dispute
To Whom It May Concern:
I am sending this Notice of Dispute to notify Thorne Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, and related entities (collectively, “Thorne”), of my individual dispute arising from my use of Thorne’s websites, mobile applications, and related digital services (collectively, the “Thorne Services”) and Thorne’s installation, use, or enablement of third-party tracking code and related technologies that recorded or decoded information associated with my electronic communications and interactions with Thorne.
Nature and Basis of the Dispute
I personally used the Thorne Services while physically located in {answer_2}. During my use of those services, I {answer_3} and otherwise communicated and interacted with Thorne. To the best of my recollection, this use occurred within the applicable limitations period.
Based on my current understanding and counsel’s investigation into Thorne's tracking practices, Thorne deployed, enabled, or caused the deployment of tracking code associated with Google, Microsoft, Quantum Metric, and other third-parties, including on thorne.com. That investigation showed that the tracking code caused or permitted the contents of electronic communications with Thorne, or information reflecting the substance and meaning of those communications, to be contemporaneously transmitted or otherwise made available to Google, Microsoft, Quantum Metric, or other third parties. Depending on the interaction, the information transmitted or made available included or reflected search terms entered into Thorne’s site-search field; the search-results pages viewed; page titles constructed from the search terms entered; and the pages from which a user navigated. For example, a search term entered through Thorne’s site-search functionality was transmitted to Google in a labeled search-term field, as “ep.search_term=magnesium supplement”; that same search term was transmitted in a single request carrying the event name “site_search” together with the results-page URL, the page title “Search results for magnesium supplement | Thorne,” and the referring page “https://www.thorne.com/take-5-daily”; and the same search term, carried in the results-page URL and page title, was separately transmitted to Microsoft, TikTok, Spotify, AppLovin, and Dynamic Yield. The investigation also observed that Thorne’s session-replay technology recorded the site-search request itself, transmitting search request URLs to Quantum Metric, and observed a common client identifier and session identifier being carried across those transmissions, together with Microsoft’s visitor and session identifiers, TikTok’s anonymous identifier, and Dynamic Yield’s user identifier. Taken together, these findings support a reasonable inference that Thorne deployed or enabled the challenged tracking code not merely to process communications between consumers and Thorne, but to associate information reflecting the contents or substance of those communications with consumer identifiers or persistent behavioral profiles and to facilitate the subsequent profiling, use, disclosure, targeted advertising, marketing, commercial exploitation, or other unlawful downstream use of that information.
Upon information and belief, the challenged tracking code operated in the manner described above in connection with my electronic communications and interactions with Thorne, causing or permitting the contents or substance of my communications to be contemporaneously transmitted or otherwise made available to Google, Microsoft, Quantum Metric, or other third parties. I did not provide legally sufficient prior consent or authorization for these, or other, third parties to contemporaneously receive, read, learn, or otherwise acquire the contents of my electronic communications with Thorne as described above.
Separately, the investigation showed that the challenged tracking code and related technology recorded or decoded non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with electronic communications and interactions with Thorne. This information included or reflected, as applicable, IP addresses, page and referrer URLs, page titles, pageview and event signals, and browser-, device-, cookie-, session-, and request identifiers, including the Google client identifier “cid” and session identifier “sid,” Microsoft’s “vid” and “sid” identifiers, TikTok’s anonymous identifier, and Dynamic Yield's user identifier, associated with the source, destination, routing, addressing, or transmission of those communications. Upon information and belief, the challenged tracking technology operated in this manner in connection with my electronic communications and interactions with Thorne, thereby recording or decoding non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with my communications, without first obtaining the required court order and without any applicable statutory exception or other lawful authorization.
I contend that the conduct described above violated applicable federal and state anti-wiretapping, interception, eavesdropping, and electronic-surveillance laws, including the federal Wiretap Act, as amended by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510 to 2523, including 18 U.S.C. § 2511, by intentionally intercepting, endeavoring to intercept, procuring, enabling, or otherwise causing the interception of my electronic communications in violation of federal law. These claims include any applicable theories concerning interception, procurement or assistance of interception, and use or disclosure of unlawfully intercepted communications recognized under the law governing my communications.
I further contend that Thorne violated California Penal Code §§ 638.50 to 638.51 by installing, using, enabling, or causing the use of a pen-register device or process that recorded or decoded non-content dialing, routing, addressing, signaling, or related information associated with my electronic communications, without first obtaining the required court order and without any applicable statutory exception or other lawful authorization. Additionally, I contend that Thorne violated California Penal Code § 631(a) by aiding, agreeing with, employing, or conspiring with Google, Microsoft, Quantum Metric, TikTok, Spotify, AppLovin, and Dynamic Yield to willfully and without my consent read, attempt to read, or learn the contents or meaning of my electronic communications with Thorne while those communications were in transit, and to use or communicate information obtained through that conduct, without my valid consent or other lawful authorization
I reserve all other statutory, common-law, contractual, consumer-protection, privacy, equitable, or related claims, theories, rights, and remedies supported by the facts and applicable law.
Relief Sought
I presently seek $5,000 in monetary relief to resolve this dispute. This amount reflects my present good-faith settlement demand based on the information currently available, including the claims asserted and the remedies potentially available under the federal Wiretap Act, applicable state anti-wiretapping law, and, where applicable, California Penal Code §§ 638.50–638.51 and California Penal Code § 631(a), including the statutory damages available under California Penal Code § 637.2, and other applicable law. I also seek injunctive relief requiring Thorne to cease the challenged tracking practices unless and until Thorne brings those practices into compliance with applicable law.
Nothing in this Notice waives any claim, remedy, or right to seek different or additional relief if subsequently discovered facts, applicable law, or the course of proceedings establishes entitlement to such relief. Nor does this Notice constitute any concession concerning the number, measure, or proper unit of violations or damages.
Informal Resolution
I am providing this Notice in good faith to afford Thorne an opportunity to resolve this dispute before formal proceedings become necessary. I am willing to engage in good-faith resolution discussions during the 60 days following Thorne’s receipt of this Notice. If the dispute is not resolved, I am prepared to pursue arbitration before AAA and pursue any other available remedy.
Nothing in this Notice constitutes a concession or waiver concerning the existence, formation, assent to, notice of, applicable version, applicability, scope, interpretation, or enforceability of any arbitration, dispute-resolution, or related procedural provision Thorne may invoke, including any procedures or conditions governing the initiation, administration, or resolution of a dispute. I expressly reject—and do not consent to—any unilateral amendment or modification to Thorne’s terms unless I affirmatively agree in a separate, signed writing. I further reserve all arguments that any purported requirement has been satisfied or substantially complied with, waived or forfeited, excused, inapplicable, or unenforceable. Nothing in this Notice waives any claim, remedy, defense, objection, or right to proceed in any forum otherwise available under applicable law.
This Notice is based on the information currently available and is not intended as an exhaustive statement of all facts, claims, theories, or remedies. I reserve the right to supplement this Notice as additional information becomes available.
Thorne should take reasonable steps to preserve documents and electronically stored information relevant to this dispute, including information concerning the challenged tracking technologies, their configuration and operation, my relevant interactions with Thorne’s services, and the information collected, recorded, or transmitted in connection with those interactions.
If Thorne considers this Notice deficient in any manner, please notify my attorneys so that they may consider and respond during the informal-resolution process.
I authorize Thorne to communicate with my counsel identified below and to produce to them all records and information associated with me that are reasonably necessary to evaluate and resolve this dispute.
Please direct all communications concerning this matter to my counsel identified below.
Sincerely,