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"
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
Keypoint: California district courts continue to split over whether “knowledge” is required to plead liability under Section 631(a)’s fourth prong while two decisions show courts taking different approaches to VPPA claims at...more
We continue to learn more about the courts’ perspective on claims under the California Information Privacy Act (“CIPA”). Last month, in Moody v. C2 Educational Systems Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Central District of...more
Repurposing old laws to challenge new technologies has become the new normal in the privacy space. Plaintiffs continue to bring a kaleidoscope of privacy claims against companies in the tech age, reviving laws like the...more
Keypoint: Courts have started to issue Pixel-based wiretapping decisions, the Seventh Circuit weighs in on when a manufacturer can be forced to pay arbitration fees, and three courts showed different approaches to dismissing...more
Readers of this blog may recall our prior piece about recent lawsuits alleging that the use of tracking software on certain websites violates the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). While earlier lawsuits focused on...more
The Biden administration announced this week that it expects to release guidance in the future regarding the use of chatbots on company websites. As part of the “Time is Money” initiative to improve and streamline consumer...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
Keypoint: Courts reject personal jurisdiction arguments and suggest the Shopify decision will be overturned; Courts continue to show differing approaches to VPPA claims at the pleading stage with a large VPPA class action...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
Businesses operating public facing websites that employ data analytics software to track users’ website interactions must be aware of a novel use of the California Information Privacy Act (“CIPA”) that has taken the...more
Keypoint: The Central District of California issued several wiretapping decisions in May while two decisions on the VPPA illustrate how claims fail or succeed at the pleading stage. Welcome to the fourteenth installment in...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
Central District of California dismisses lawsuit alleging that a third-party’s interception of communications over a website’s live chat feature violated California’s wiretapping and eavesdropping prohibitions. ...more
On May 9, 2024, Paul Hastings participated in a panel on litigation trends and risk management at this spring’s Privacy+Security Forum. Panelists included Carter Simpson (Partner, Paul Hastings) and Matt Gardner (Senior...more
Keypoint: The Central District of California issues a major victory for website owners facing CIPA-arbitration demands, two decisions address whether a plaintiff consented as a defense to wiretapping claims, three courts in...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
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
Keypoint: Multiple decisions from the same judicial district come down differently on wiretapping claims while three courts in different states each reject VPPA-defendants’ arguments that the plaintiffs lacked Article III...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
In 2023, we saw the continued proliferation of class action lawsuits filed by “consumer watchdog” plaintiffs under state wiretapping laws, particularly the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), against website operators...more
ArentFox Schiff's annual review of significant developments and trends that shaped class action litigation in 2023 has major implications for companies across the country. From labor and employment disputes to landmark...more