Customer Sues Comcast Over Data Disclosure

A Seattle-area woman has sued Comcast Corp. for disclosing her name and contact information.

Dawnell Leadbetter said she was contacted by a debt collection agency in January and told to pay $4,500 for downloading copyright-protected music or face a lawsuit. Leadbetter, a mother of two teenage children, was a subscriber to Comcast’s high-speed Internet access.

She said the agency was able to track her down using information that the Recording Industry Assn. of America obtained in a Philadelphia lawsuit over the illegal sharing of digital music files. But no court authorized Comcast to release customer information, Leadbetter said.