privacy law

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Key Takeaways:

  • The Ninth Circuit court of appeals reviewed three separate proposed class actions against Papa John’s International Inc., Converse Inc., and Bloomingdale’s, all centered on whether certain website tracking activities violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).
  • The plaintiffs in these cases alleged that companies unlawfully used technologies like “session replay” software and chatbots to monitor website visitors’ interactions, intercepting their information and transmitting it to third parties without consent, thereby violating CIPA Section 631.
  • The court assessed how CIPA, an older wiretapping law, applies to modern website tracking like session replay and chatbots, focusing on definitions of “interception” and “contents.”
  • Amazon faces allegations of unauthorized data collection in violation of federal and state privacy laws, including a first-of-its-kind claim under Washington’s My Health My Data Act (“MHMDA”).
  • The MHMDA restricts businesses from collecting, sharing, or selling any-health related information about a consumer without their consent of “valid authorization”, going
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  • There has been a recent surge of privacy class action lawsuits under the Arizona Telephone, Utility, and Communication Service Records Act targeting the use of common email marketing analytics technologies.
  • Defendants are asserting standard defenses including lack of Article III standing as well as challenging the 2007 Arizona law’s applicability to email tracking pixels.

While French skincare company L’Occitane (the “Company”) successfully thwarted a mass arbitration effort by plaintiffs’ firm Zimmerman Reed and approximately 3,000 customers (the “Claimants”), the Southern District of California Court presiding over the matter indicated that the Company’s case against them was on the verge of dismissal. L’Occitane v. Zimmerman Reed, et al., No. 2:24-cv-01103 (C.D. Cal. April 15, 2024).

  • Over a hundred cases are pending from the wave of privacy class actions that commenced last year alleging violations of state wiretap statutes based on use of website session replay, chatbot and pixel technologies.
  • Plaintiffs’ firms are continuing to file new cases based on chatbot and pixel tech despite an increasing number of dismissals while also trying new approaches focused on email marketing tech and identity graphing.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a strategy paper highlighting key aspects of its plan to revamp cybersecurity requirements in the healthcare industry. Citing a 93% increase in large data breaches in healthcare from 2018 to 2022 and a rapid increase in ransomware attacks against…

Increasing oversight of tech companies, particularly in the realm of consumer privacy, has been a rare example of bipartisan agreement. Despite data privacy being a growing concern for consumers, however, there has been relatively little federal policymaking. To counteract this lack of action, some states have stepped in to fill…