There has been an increasing number of lawsuits threatened and filed in the last year against ecommerce marketers and other online companies based on their use of analytical and other “non essential” marketing-related cookies. These actions typically allege violations of various federal and state privacy statutes—most notably the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), including California Penal Code §§ 631(a), 632, 632.7, and 638.51—and challenge widely used online advertising and tracking practices such as the usage of cookies, pixels or the alleged interceptions of communications. It is important to note that there have been no definitive legal rulings on these claims, and this is an ever-changing area of the law, which is being increasingly exploited by plaintiff’s attorneys.
InMobi deceptively tracked the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers, including children, without their knowledge or consent to serve them geo-targeted advertising.
By William MacDonald*
In response to alleged industry inaction, Senator Jay Rockefeller (who plans to retire at the end of next year) recently reintroduced a bill, the "Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013", that would require all Web browsers, online companies, and app makers to give users a choice of opting-out of being tracked online.