On September 26, 2018, New Jersey federal district judge Madeline Cox Arleo dismissed an eight-count class action complaint in its entirety against three smart TV makers: Samsung, LG, and Sony. The plaintiffs alleged that defendants’ smart TVs continuously monitored and tracked their viewing habits, recorded their voices, and then transmitted that information to defendants’ servers, … Continue Reading
In Perry v. Cable News Network, the Eleventh Circuit dealt another loss to putative class-action plaintiffs seeking to use the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) as a weapon against free online video services. The court affirmed that to be a “subscriber” of a video service—someone who can sue under the VPPA—one must have a genuine … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in In re Nickelodeon Consumer Privacy Litigation, a case addressing whether static digital identifiers like internet protocol (IP) addresses qualify as personally identifiable information (PII) under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). As a result, the Third Circuit’s June 27, 2016 decision in the case—which held that IP addresses … Continue Reading
Last week, the Third Circuit adopted a narrow definition of “personally identifiable information,” or “PII,” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), joining the majority of district courts that have addressed similar issues. The VPPA defines PII as information that “identifies a person as having [obtained a video]” from a video tape service provider (“VTSP”). … 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
On October 9, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in Ellis v. Cartoon Network, Inc. that a person who downloads and uses a free mobile application to view freely available content is not, without more, a “subscriber” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”). Cartoon Network offers a free mobile app that people can download to watch … Continue Reading
On Tuesday, March 31, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Hulu’s motion for summary judgment in a complaint alleging that Hulu had violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing user information with Facebook. In granting summary judgment, the court found no genuine issue of material fact regarding whether … 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
Last night, the Senate passed an amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710, designed to make it easier for users to share their online video viewing activities. (We’ve discussed the amendment’s content here and here.) President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Netflix, the most prominent backer of … Continue Reading
Continuing the flurry of activity around privacy legislation that we have seen over the past few weeks, the House today passed an amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2710. The bill would amend the VPPA by clarifying that a consumer may consent to the disclosure of her video viewing information … Continue Reading
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the much-discussed update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 and the Video Privacy Protection of 1988 (“VPPA”). The Committee adopted Senator Leahy’s manager’s amendment (which we discussed here), with a minor modification proposed by Senators Cornyn and Lee. Senator Feinstein also offered an amendment to the VPPA … Continue Reading
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly will vote on Sen. Patrick Leahy’s bill that would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The bill would amend the VPPA by clarifying that a consumer may consent to the disclosure of her video viewing information “though an electronic means … Continue Reading
Last Friday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the ECPA 2.0 Act, H.R. 6529, which would strengthen the legal standards for law enforcement to gain access to electronic communications and location information. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is more than 25 years old and is widely seen as needing modernization to address changes in digital … Continue Reading
According to a number of media outlets, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider proposed amendments to the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) and to Title II of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, better known as the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”). The amendments reportedly will be offered by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and likely will … Continue Reading
According to court documents filed last week, Netflix has agreed to change its data storage practices and pay about $9 million to settle allegations that it unlawfully retained and disclosed customers’ video-viewing histories. Specifically, Netflix agreed to decouple viewing history from identification information once users have been inactive for a year; to pay $30,000 to … Continue Reading
A judge in the Northern District of California recently agreed with the Seventh Circuit that the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) does not provide a private right of action premised solely on an allegedly unauthorized retention of information. Plaintiffs sued Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (“SCEA”) and Sony Network Entertainment International LLC (“SNEI”) for alleged violations of the … 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
As we previously reported, the Video Privacy Protection Act reform bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) passed the House. And now the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law has scheduled a hearing on video privacy, to be held next Tuesday, January 31. The VPPA has come under scrutiny in recent … Continue Reading
Earlier today, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) (H.R. 2471) that would clarify certain ambiguities in the 1988 law in light of technological changes in the marketplace. In his remarks on the House floor, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) – the primary author of H.R. 2471– explained that the amendment … Continue Reading
Following up on a meeting last week, today the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s proposed amendment to the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The Committee favorably reported (i.e., approved) a modified version of Rep. Goodlatte’s bill, H.R. 2471, which would permit consent to be given to sharing video usage information … 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
