The statute prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing personally identifiable information about a consumer's video requests. Statutory damages are twenty-five hundred dollars per violation.
Application to modern streaming and website video is heavily litigated.
Alternative Names:
VPPA|Video Privacy Act
Why it Matters?
Whether a website embedding video content qualifies as a video tape service provider is the threshold question, and courts have divided between limiting the statute to businesses centered on video delivery and extending it to any site offering video. The consumer definition requiring a subscriber relationship is a second defense, since a visitor who never registered may fall outside it. Both defenses precede any consent analysis.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What is the threshold defense?
What is the second defense?
