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"
In late March, an online retailer successfully asserted consent as a complete defense to a putative Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act of 1978 (WESCA) class action lawsuit, resulting in the...more
An oft-discussed topic on this blog is the rise in lawsuits asserting illegal wiretapping claims against companies that use technology on their websites to track consumer interactions. Recently, a Pennsylvania federal judge...more
Beware of demand letters from plaintiffs’ attorneys for allegations of illegal use of pen registers, trap and trace pixels, and search bar pixels—why? This “trap and trace” litigation is a growing trend for plaintiffs’...more
As the debate simmers about the proper application of the wiretapping provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), courts continue to weigh in on what technologies may constitute improper third-party...more
The first class action complaint was filed under Washington’s My Health My Data Act (“MHMDA”) on February 10, 2025, more than a year after the law’s passage. When the law passed in April 2023, MHMDA was novel for its broad...more
Welcome to the twentieth installment in our monthly data privacy litigation report. We prepare these reports to provide updates on how courts in the United States have handled emerging data privacy trends. After our expansive...more
If your business operates online and uses common marketing tools, your business is at risk of being targeted for lawsuits under pre-internet wiretapping and video rental privacy laws. It is critical to address and mitigate...more
Businesses that use website tracking software to monitor activity for marketing purposes must comply with a growing list of state laws – but does that include a nearly 60-year-old Massachusetts law requiring consent to record...more
Companies frequently wish to record telephone conversations related to their operations, customers, or business transactions. In response, the U.S. Congress and most state legislatures have enacted statutes and regulations...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
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
The trend of class action cases alleging wiretap statute violations against website operators for the use of session replay software to collect information of website users, as our privacy team previously discussed here,...more
Keypoint: The past two months have seen many courts dismiss privacy claims as judges appear to be more critical of plaintiffs’ theories while other judges have allowed cases to proceed past the motion to dismiss stage....more
What You Need To Know In A Minute Or Less - The rise in session replay litigation has paved the way for a new wave of website privacy lawsuits: pixel tool litigation. Plaintiffs have increasingly challenged the use of this...more
Keypoint: In March 2023, more California courts tackled motions to dismiss claims that chat features violate wiretapping laws while Georgia and Minnesota courts weighed in on VPPA claims....more
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (the “California ECPA”). This legislation, which takes effect on January 1, 2015, has been heralded by...more