EPIC Says 3rd Circuit Erred in Decision Rejecting Suit Against Google, Viacom
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia erred in its decision to throw out a class action lawsuit against Viacom and Google, which was accused of illegally collecting personal information of children 13 years and younger (see 1606270047),…
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said Electronic Privacy Information Center President Marc Rotenberg, whose group filed an amicus brief with the plaintiffs. It "could not be more wrong about the Video Privacy Protection Act," he emailed. "The text of the Act and the legislative history makes clear that Congress intended a broad interpretation. The court showed a stunning lack of understanding about the nature of Internet advertising, the role of search engines, and the significance of persistent identifiers ('cookies'). ... The discussion of [personally identifiable information] is entirely incoherent." The 3rd Circuit opinion said IP addresses, browser and operating system settings, unique device identifiers, and other pieces of data didn't qualify as personal information. In a blog post Monday, EPIC said the 3rd Circuit's opinion contradicted a 1st Circuit decision in April that said "unique Android ID and GPS coordinates constituted PII" under the Video Privacy Protection Act -- setting up a possible Supreme Court review.