Theater Chain Says It Didn't Knowingly Share PII With Facebook: Reply Brief
Plaintiff Jeffrey Hoge’s opposition brief to Southern Theatres’ motion to dismiss a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) lawsuit offered no convincing answers to the chain’s three reasons for dismissal for failure to state a claim, the defendant said Wednesday in…
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a reply brief (docket 1:23-cv-00346) in U.S. District Court for North Carolina Middle District. Hoge alleges Southern Theatres shared his private video viewing information without consent, and “partnered with Facebook” to collect personally identifiable information (PII) each time Hoge viewed a video or bought a ticket on Southern’s websites. In its June motion to dismiss (see 2306230052), the theater chain said the VPPA applies to “video tape service providers,” not movie theaters, while Hoge argued Congress’ definition of video tape service providers should be expanded based on the development of new technologies such as streaming. “This is beside the point -- movies are shown in theaters today in much the same way as they were in 1988, when Congress omitted them from the statute,” said the defendant’s reply brief. Southern argued the information it allegedly disclosed doesn’t constitute PII as defined in the VPPA. “A Facebook ID is a digital code that, on its own, does not identify a specific individual to an ordinary recipient,” said the brief, saying Hoge relies “only on non-binding district court opinions that are contradicted by more persuasive authority from multiple appellate courts.” Also, Hoge “fails to plausibly allege” that if the theater chain did disclose any PII, it knowingly did so. The complaint offers “only a threadbare recital of this element, and this superficial allegation does not withstand scrutiny,” said the reply. Hoge conceded that information allegedly disclosed to Facebook “was not within Southern Theatres’ control, contradicting his assertion that it was knowingly disclosed,” it said. The VPPA suit should be dismissed with prejudice, it said.