A federal court’s decision to consolidate more than 2,400 individual arbitration claims into a single class-action complaint against a clothing retailer for its use of pixel-tracking technologies highlights two litigation trends: leveraging old laws for new technologies and the common practice of individuals with the same counsel filing identical arbitration claims and demands, said a privacy lawyer at Robinson+Cole.
A Texas federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit against Eyemart Express that alleges the eyewear company tracks users’ activity on its website without consent or disclosing tracking practices. The plaintiffs didn't prove their private health information (PHI) was actually disclosed to a social media platform, Judge David Godbey said in dismissing the case.
A bill aimed at amending the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) may decrease the number of lawsuits if it's passed, but plaintiffs’ attorneys could simply find other avenues to bring claims, privacy lawyers who often represent defendants in such cases said.
California appropriators greenlit a plethora of privacy bills at Friday meetings. Assembly and Senate panels ticked through a laundry list of “suspense file” bills, including on age assurance, automated decisions, reproductive health, workplace surveillance and revisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The approved bills could get floor votes next.
Since data-protection litigation and enforcement are on the rise, companies can't assume data practices instituted years ago will insulate them from compliance issues, said privacy experts during a webinar hosted Thursday by Privado, a privacy vendor. New regulations and older laws leveraged to cover evolving technologies have made overseeing data and privacy a corporate priority, they said.
A subscriber to The Onion hit the satirical news site with a class-action complaint on Friday, alleging that it deployed a tracking pixel that transmitted his personally identifiable information to third parties without prior knowledge or consent, which violates the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
A fourth amended class action complaint was filed Friday in a case alleging NBCUniversal Media (NBCU) violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) through its use of the Meta tracking pixel. The case, Golden v. NBCUniversal Media, was previously dismissed when the U.S. District Court for Southern New York ruled that the plaintiff did not count as a "consumer" under the Act, but changed its mind following the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in a VPPA case in October (see 2501100009).
The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) dressed down national menswear retailer Todd Snyder with a $345,178 fine Tuesday for alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Closely following CPPA action last March against Honda, the Todd Snyder case is more than an enforcement action. It also “highlights a trend by this agency of looking beyond surface compliance with the CCPA,” Wiley privacy attorney Joan Stewart told us. The agency’s board adopted the enforcement decision May 1.
Two amicus briefs were filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday in support of the NBA in a Video Privacy Protection Act case, including one from the NFL and the other a joint amicus brief from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The briefs asked the Supreme Court to grant cert in NBA v. Salazar and reverse the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling.
With the influx of pixel-tracking litigation in recent years, it’s important for businesses to be aware of what tracking technologies are deployed on their websites and platforms, how they work and how consent is gained from users, as well as to continue checking in on these pixels in order to avoid litigation, said industry professionals during a panel Tuesday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Public Policy & Legal Summit.