Free Apps Shielded from Privacy Claims in 11th Circ. Ruling
Atlanta partner Jim Lamberth and associate Alan Bakowski were mentioned in an October 13 Law360 article about how the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling in Ellis v. The Cartoon Network, Inc. that consumers who use free mobile apps don’t qualify as “subscribers” under the Video Privacy Protection Act will significantly decrease service providers’ liability under the statute. As such, the article contends, the ruling will likely encourage businesses “to shift to free content delivery models to help avoid further [litigation risk].”
In the original suit, the plaintiff had claimed Cartoon Network’s Android app collected users’ video viewing data and Android IDs, and sent them to data analytics company Bango Inc. without their consent. A district judge disagreed, stating that Android ID numbers did not qualify as “personally identifiable information” under the Video Privacy Protection Act because Bango needed to use additional information to reverse-engineer the users’ identity.
Jim and Alan represented Cartoon Network in the legal proceedings.