The Supreme Court on Oct. 14 heard arguments in a case testing whether a nearly 40-year-old privacy law that bars disclosure of video rental histories applies when a website shares a user’s viewing data with Facebook.
The justices considered whether Michael Salazar, a free newsletter subscriber who watched videos on Paramount-owned 247Sports.com, qualifies as a “consumer” under the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). Since the law was enacted, consumer rentals of physical videotapes have all but disappeared, but courts are divided over how far the statute reaches in the digital era.
Salazar alleges the site transmitted his Facebook ID and video-viewing history to Facebook without obtaining his consent….