Key takeaways

• The Ninth Circuit has joined the Third Circuit in holding that the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) only prohibits disclosures of information that, by itself, can be used to identify a person.
• This continues a trend of courts limiting the application of VPPA to online video streaming. Courts have been reluctant to find that a device ID number, without more, is “personally identifiable information” under VPPA.
• Companies that provide streaming video should regularly audit the information that they send to third parties in light of the continuing class action activity in this space—and VPPA’s liquidated damages and fee-shifting provisions.