Mintz Privacy Team Secures Landmark Ruling in California Invasion of Privacy Act Case | Mintz – Employment Viewpoints
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/mintz-privacy-team-secures-landmark-6492590/
Publish Date: 2026-06-01 10:24:00
Source Domain: www.jdsupra.com
On May 27, 2026, Judge Gary Roberts of the Los Angeles, California Superior Court ruled, in a notable decision, that the California Invasion of Privacy Act’s pen register and trap and trace device provisions apply only to telephone communications and not to software on commercial websites. The Court dismissed, with prejudice (notably), claims against Mintz client NetScout Systems, Inc. premised on deployment of a data collection software development kit (or SDK) on its website. The Court adopted NetScout’s position that these CIPA provisions do not apply to the internet broadly and are limited to telephone communications at best. While many organizations confront the dilemma of fighting or paying for an early settlement, NetScout chose to fight, challenging Plaintiffs’ lawyers’ widening application of a statute intended to address telephone technologies alone.
Why this matters: This decision represents a significant win for companies facing litigation over their use of pixels, web beacons, and other internet data collection technologies. It provides companies with persuasive authority they can use in response to similar lawsuits and a roadmap for defeating these types of claims. Moreover, it seriously weakens the argument that affirmative consent is required before companies may collect data on the Internet. As the Court explained in its written ruling, “the internet was in widespread use when these provisions were enacted in 2015. If the Legislature had intended for section 638.51 to apply to commercial websites, it would have so stated either in the statute itself or in the surrounding materials.”
Summary Analysis: The California legislature inserted the pen register and trap and trace provisions (California Penal Code §§ 638.50 through 638.53) as a package in 2015 to amend CIPA, well after internet data collection technologies had emerged and had become widely deployed. Since 2023, Plaintiffs’ lawyers have premised claims…
