Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA)

For years, one of the most frequently litigated privacy laws has been the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2710, a federal statute enacted in 1988 in response to the disclosure of then-Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s videotape rental history by a video store to a reporter, who published the list.  Despite its analogue origins, this decades-old statute has been used by the plaintiff’s bar (incentivized by the VPPA’s $2,500 per violation liquidated damages provision) in putative class action litigation brought against any business whose website contains playable videos and third-party cookies.

This past year, there were several significant court rulings in litigation under the VPPA.  These decisions addressed hotly contested VPPA elements while also laying the foundation for a potential circuit split.  Squire Patton Boggs’ globally ranked “Elite” Data Disputes team is well experienced defending businesses and their data practices, including in the realm of VPPA litigation and (mass) arbitration.  In this article, informed by our practical experience litigating and arbitrating VPPA cases, we: (I) provide a brief primer on VPPA elements and litigation theories, (II) cover a Second Circuit decision, and other district court decisions, on the definition of personally identifiable information under the VPPA (III) address decisions from the Sixth, Seventh, and D.C. Circuits on the scope of persons who can bring VPPA claims, and (V) give an update on a recent Eighth Circuit decision regarding which businesses are subject to the VPPA.  These areas are all likely to bear upon VPPA claims and ongoing litigation in 2026, making this a must read for in-house counsel and practitioners in this space.Continue Reading 2025 Video Privacy Protection Act Litigation Year in Review

Last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in an unpublished decision, undercut the latest attempt of the plaintiffs’ bar to penalize the common business practice of using tracking pixels on websites. These pixels are pieces of code created by third-party advertisers and analytics companies that can collect information about website visits such as a visitor’s IP address, when the visit occurred, and what links were clicked on within the site. Despite being used by most major U.S. businesses, tracking pixels have been increasingly targeted by plaintiffs for their alleged disclosure of certain information back to the company that operates them. Squire Patton Boggs’ Data Disputes team has significant experience defending these claims in litigation and arbitration (and obtaining dismissals for clients). 

Read on for more about the Third Circuit’s decision in this case.Continue Reading Third Circuit Strikes a Blow to Yet Another Attempt to Penalize the Use of Tracking Pixels

Mass arbitrations—where a plaintiffs’ firm brings dozens, hundreds, or thousands of identical claims against a business—is a mechanism increasingly relied upon by the plaintiffs’ bar in the past few years.  This is because mass arbitrations enable a plaintiffs’ firm to create settlement pressure by leveraging unavoidable arbitration fees borne by a business regardless of the merits of the claims filed.  Further powered by litigation funding, plaintiffs’ firms have used the mass arbitration device to bring vexatious claims and escape review of the merits or any downside risk.Continue Reading 2025 Mass Arbitration Year in Review

The federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) is one of the most frequently litigated data privacy statutes. This month, a California federal court dismissed VPPA claims brought against Hershey, making clear that VPPA liability does not extend to all websites with playable video clips. Rodriguez v. The Hershey Company, et al., No. 3:23-cv-00398-L-DEB, 2023 WL…

This week a federal court in the Southern District of New York dismissed a privacy litigation brought against a website operator for claims under the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), holding the allegation that plaintiffs had electronically subscribed to defendant’s newsletter was not sufficient for them to qualify as “subscribers” under the VPPA.  Carter v. Scripps Network LLC, Case No. 1:22-cv-02031 (S.D.N.Y.)

As Privacy World has previously covered, dozens of website operators have been named as defendants recently in putative class actions, with claims also being filed in arbitration, for alleged violation of the VPPA.  In many circumstances, plaintiff in such cases allege that the defendant improperly disclosed their video viewing history to social media companies for advertising purposes.  Because this ruling limits the scope of claims that can be brought under the VPPA and is persuasive authority in other pending cases, it will likely be relied upon by defendants going forward.Continue Reading Federal Court Dismisses Privacy Claims Brought Against Website Operator, Finding Online Subscriptions for Electronic Newsletter Insufficient To Impose Liability Under Federal Video Privacy Protection Act