Legal Alert | Wiretap Laws in the United States
Anti-Wiretap Class Actions Against Website Operators Surge, but Proper Consent Can Reduce Risk
Webinar Recording – Assessing the Surge in Wiretap Litigation
Is Edward Snowden a Whistleblower?
Rajaratnam Judge: Wiretaps in Insider Trading Cases are "Radical"
Frequent readers of this blog are aware of the surge in lawsuits alleging that companies illegally wiretap consumers when they utilize software which tracks consumers’ interactions on their websites. The majority of these...more
Chatbots are likely to lead to a new wave of class action lawsuits. This is how are we helping our clients get ready. Claims include: •Contemporaneous recording by the chat provider - •Chat provider uses the chat...more
Like many organizations, Peloton is facing a legal challenge under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) relating to the company’s alleged use of third-party technology on its website to intercept chat communications...more
Readers of this blog are familiar with the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), and the systematic transformation of CIPA wiretapping cases since their inception. Applying CIPA, a Washington State federal court...more
Readers of this blog likely know about the wave of consumer privacy litigation directed at online companies’ collection of consumer data. A litany of these cases are brought by Swigart Law Group, APC (“Swigart Law”), a law...more
As an onslaught of recent class actions allege, companies may be liable for eavesdropping and wiretapping based on the use of common analytics software on their platforms. For instance, in California, plaintiffs have filed...more
California continues to grapple with a significant surge in lawsuits and arbitration demands aimed at businesses operating websites employing technology to monitor online activities. These cases hinge on the California...more
Amid little clarity from courts, wiretap claims targeting the use of data analytics tools are becoming increasingly common. Here are ways to stay compliant and avoid costly litigation....more
What do a nearly 60-year-old statute on wiretapping and your website have in common? Enough to potentially impose liability on your organization, according to recent lawsuits. We have seen an astronomical increase in...more
The California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) was originally passed in 1967 to curb unlawful telephone wiretapping. Now, in the age of website tracking technologies, this outdated law is being wielded by plaintiffs’ attorneys...more
California businesses are experiencing a tsunami of demands and complaints alleging class action status that applies the well-established 1960’s California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) to the internet’s new technology. CIPA...more
On March 15, 2024, a United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss in the matter of Rodriguez v. Ford Motor Company. In her eavesdropping lawsuit, Plaintiff alleged...more
A new species of website privacy litigation has taken hold in 2024, based on arcane provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) that restrict law enforcement’s use of pen register or trap and trace devices...more
Keypoint: Courts continue to issue conflicting decisions in wiretapping cases while one court has expanded who may be considered a “video tape service provider” under the VPPA. Welcome to the eleventh installment in our...more
On August 16, 2022, US Congress enacted Reese’s Law, which aims to protect children from ingestion hazards associated with certain lithium batteries found in consumer electronics. The law stems from the death of 18-month-old...more
For the past several years, website owners that gather data from California residents have faced a surge in class action lawsuits and threatened lawsuits alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA)....more
In the latest example of privacy laws being stretched to fit new digital technologies, plaintiffs have begun to file a flurry of suits alleging that retailers are using pen register and trap-and-trace software to illegally...more
For the past two years, hundreds of class action lawsuits alleging violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) have plagued California retailers and consumer-facing service providers. These lawsuits claim,...more
The proliferation of class action lawsuit and arbitration claim filings under the Federal Wiretap Act and various state wiretap statutes has recently grown beyond California, as other states are now beginning to see more...more
Here is what we can learn from class action lawsuits filed in the last few days under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, and other...more
Plaintiffs look to the past to take action against modern web tracking - As states rapidly enact new consumer privacy legislation, businesses have been working tirelessly to comply with extensive new data protection...more
The Authors previously published the below client alert on June 8, 2023, analyzing privacy litigation under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and other wiretap statutes in Pennsylvania and Maryland. We provide...more
California was the first US state with a comprehensive privacy law the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), 4 more states followed with omnibus privacy laws effective this year and state legislatures passed 8 more this...more
Joe Alves filed a class-action complaint against BJ’s Wholesale Club, alleging that BJ’s uses computer code, called Session Replay Code (SRC), to secretly record consumer activity on BJ’s website. Alves claims that BJ’s...more
Companies in all industries and of all sizes are evaluating sophisticated and useful technology for their websites and applica- tions (their “apps”) in an effort to enhance and develop their image or brand and to support...more