In Ellis v. Cartoon Network, Inc., No. 14-cv-00484 (N.D. Ga. Oct. 8, 2014), the Northern District of Georgia recently granted a motion to dismiss a putative class action filed against Cartoon Network for alleged violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710 (“VPPA”). 

The VPPA prohibits “video tape service providers” from knowingly disclosing “personally identifiable information” (“PII”) regarding their consumers.  The named plaintiff alleged that Cartoon Network’s mobile application transmitted a complete record of a user’s video history and the user’s Android ID to Bango, a third-party data analytics company.  The plaintiff argued that Bango could determine a consumer’s identity by using the Android ID in conjunction with several other sources.

Cartoon Network moved to dismiss, arguing that an Android ID does not constitute PII under the VPPA.  The District Court agreed, noting that several other courts “have held that ‘personally identifiable information’ is that which, in its own right, without more, ‘link[s] an actual person to actual video materials.’”  Thus, an otherwise anonymous ID, such as the Android ID, does not constitute PII when a third-party must still take extra steps to connect the disclosed information to identification of a particular person.  Because a consumer’s identity could not be determined from the Android ID and Bango was required to collect additional information from other sources in order to obtain an individual’s identity, the Android ID provided by Cartoon Network to Bango did not constitute PII, such that the plaintiff’s claim (and that of the putative class) failed as a matter of law.