The New Wave of Web Tracking Litigation: Wiretap Statutes, VPPA Risk, and Consent Strategies — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Companies with video content on their websites, and the tracking technologies that often come with it, may soon get long-awaited clarity from the U.S. Supreme Court. ...more
The Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the interpretation of a decades-old federal privacy statute that has found renewed relevance in the modern digital advertising ecosystem. ...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that is expected to resolve a long-developing split among federal courts of appeals over the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (“VPPA”), 18 U.S.C. §...more
On January 26, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Michael Salazar v. Paramount Global (d/b/a 247Sports), No. 25-459, to decide a threshold question under the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA): who...more
On Monday, January 26, the US Supreme Court agreed to take up a case about the breadth of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). That federal statute prohibits a “video tape service provider” from “knowingly disclos[ing]”...more
The US Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Salazar v. Paramount Global, No. 25-459, to decide a consequential question at the intersection of privacy litigation and digital media: who qualifies as a “consumer” under the...more
On January 26, 2026, the Supreme Court granted the petition in Salazar v. Paramount Global (Case No. 25-459) to address “[w]hether the phrase ‘goods or services from a video tape service provider,’ as used in the [Video...more
The Supreme Court has agreed to address a critical threshold question under the Video Protection Privacy Act (“VPPA”), a decades-old law governing how video-viewing information may be shared: who qualifies as a “consumer”...more
On January 26, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in one case: Salazar v. Paramount Global, No. 25-459: This case interprets the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), a 1988 federal law that...more
This morning, the Supreme Court granted a petition asking it to determine whether the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) applies to consumers who subscribe to non-audiovisual content, such as a digital newsletters, rather...more
Despite having been enacted decades ago – during the heyday of the neighborhood brick-and-mortar video store – the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) remained as relevant as ever in 2025. Companies continued to face...more
Coblentz partner Scott Hall and members of the Coblentz Data Privacy Team presented “2025 Privacy Overview: How to Ensure Compliance and Reduce Business Risk” on October 21, 2025. The team discussed the global and U.S. AI...more
The past year was a busy one for privacy litigation: Website tracking litigation gained momentum. Plaintiffs repurposed legacy wiretap and video privacy statutes to target pixels, chat bots, and other AI-enabled user tools....more
Courts are split over whether use of the Meta Pixel to share URLs of videos users watch qualifies as disclosure of PII under the VPPA, even when they apply the same “ordinary person” test to nearly identical allegations. ...more
Litigation targeting website tracking technologies—such as cookies, pixels, session replay, and analytics tools—remains a major risk for businesses in 2025 and beyond. Courts continue to shape the boundaries of liability,...more
A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan has expanded the interpretation of who may qualify as a “video tape service provider” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), 18 U.S.C....more
On October 30, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a putative nationwide class action filed by three residents of North Carolina and Oklahoma against California-based Samba TV, Inc....more
In this episode of The Consumer Finance Podcast, Chris Willis is joined by colleagues Jason Manning, Angelo Stio, and Rob Jenkin to unpack the surge of litigations arising from the use of tracking technologies (e.g., cookies,...more
A new bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would make it illegal for minors to use “companion” AI chatbots, with criminal penalties for systems that engage children in sexual or self-harm discussions. Dubbed the...more
A recent lawsuit against a college is a reminder that higher education institutions need to take a closer look at how they use video content online, especially when tracking tools are involved....more
A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Goodman v. Hillsdale College (No. 1:25-cv-417, Oct. 17, 2025), denied Hillsdale College’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action brought...more
A recent privacy rights development could have major implications for any school or non-profit that has a website, as a Michigan federal court gave the greenlight for a video privacy protection lawsuit to proceed against...more
Many courts have held that that information gathered by video-related pixels are not “personal” for purposes of the Video Privacy Protection Act. Nevertheless, plaintiff class action attorneys continue to file these VPPA...more
In recent years, websites have faced a slew of proposed class action lawsuits over their tracking technologies. To improve user experiences and to tailor marketing, some websites use pixels, strings of code used to gather and...more
Recent reporting regarding the College Sports Commission - Recent reporting suggests frustration with the College Sports Commission (CSC), both on campus and in the collective community....more