Video Privacy Protection Act news: pixel-based claims over video viewing data, the consumer definition circuit split, and defense strategies.
A 1988 statute written for video rental records has become one of the most active theories in digital privacy litigation, driven by tracking pixels on sites that host video. This hub follows the consumer-definition circuit split and the rulings shaping the exposure.
One phrase in the Video Privacy Protection Act — "goods or services from a video tape service provider" — has produced an open split among three courts of appeals over who may sue. The Supreme Court granted review on 26 January 2026 and has set argument for 14 October 2026. This post sets out what each opinion actually reasoned.
Read more →The VPPA is short, oddly drafted, and enforced entirely by private plaintiffs rather than by any agency. This guide walks the statute section by section: the four definitions that set its perimeter, the six disclosures it permits, the consent form Congress rewrote in 2013, the records-destruction duty a court of appeals has held is not privately enforceable, and the damages that drive the docket.
Read more →The Video Privacy Protection Act was passed in 1988 after a newspaper published a Supreme Court nominee's video rental history. It now generates a steady stream of claims against websites that embed video and third-party tracking pixels. Two questions divide the courts: who counts as a subscriber, and what qualifies as personally identifiable information.
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