A class-action lawsuit filed last month alleges that Wal-Mart’s video recording technology at its self-service checkout kiosks collects “personal identification information” in violation of the California Song-Beverly Act Credit Card Act of 1971 (“Song-Beverly Act”). The Song-Beverly Act, like analogous statutes in several other states, generally prohibits businesses from recording customers’ “personal identification information” as … Continue Reading
In two cases last week, two courts entered widely divergent rulings on the central question of the specific definition of “personally identifiable information,” or “PII,” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). The VPPA defines PII as information that “identifies a person as having [obtained a video]” from a video tape service provider (“VTSP”). In … Continue Reading
As protests have continued across the nation in the wake of back-to-back decisions by grand juries in Missouri and New York not to indict white police officers for their involvement in the deaths of unarmed black citizens, civil rights advocates, along with state leaders and the federal government, are exploring measures to better relationships between … Continue Reading
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has allowed a putative class action under Michigan law to proceed against several magazine publishers that allegedly sold lists of their customers’ names, addresses, and subscription choices to third parties. Earlier this week, in a case styled Halaburda v. Bauer Publishing Co., Judge Steeh … Continue Reading
In the wake of the Boston marathon bombings and in response to the quick work of law enforcement officials who were significantly aided in their identification of the suspected bombers by videos from government- and privately owned surveillance cameras, there has been renewed public discussion regarding the privacy implications of the proliferation of security cameras. … Continue Reading
Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the “Video Privacy Protection Act Amendments Act of 2012,” a law that amends the VPPA’s notoriously vague consent provision. As originally enacted, the VPPA allowed “video tape service providers” to disclose consumers’ “personally identifiable information” (including their video viewing histories) with a consumer’s consent only if that consent were … Continue Reading
On Friday, an Italian appeals court in Milan overturned the 2010 criminal conviction of three Google Inc. executives for violating the privacy of a disabled boy by allowing a video of students bullying him to appear on Google Video. In February 2010, a court handed down six-month prison sentences to three senior Google executives—Senior Vice … Continue Reading
Last week, Judge Armstrong of the Northern District of California dismissed a putative class action against Pandora alleging the Internet radio service had violated two Michigan state statutes by disclosing to third parties information about the plaintiff’s listening activity. The plaintiff in Deacon v. Pandora Media, Inc. alleged that by (1) making publicly available his Pandora … Continue Reading
The Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising continues to gather steam. Last month, after the Program garnered favorable mention in the FTC’s final privacy report, a representative of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (one of the DAA’s participating organizations) announced that the Program’s Advertising Option Icon is now being served in more than … Continue Reading
The Seventh Circuit held yesterday, in a decision written by Judge Posner, that damages are not available under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) for violations of the statute’s data deletion requirement, only for unlawful disclosures of video-viewing information. Subsection (b) of the VPPA prohibits knowing disclosure of personally identifiable information that identifies a person … Continue Reading
Two of the country’s largest video rental services, Netflix and Redbox, have been sued for allegedly violating the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). The plaintiffs in both suits contend that the rental services stored information about their rental histories for long after that information had ceased being “necessary” to provide the services for which … Continue Reading
