CNN Calls VPPA Appeal Argument 'Long Shot'; EPIC Says Lower Court Erred

-- that a user of its app who also subscribed to a cable package including CNN should be considered a CNN "subscriber" under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the cable network said in a response brief (in Pacer) filed Thursday with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Plaintiff Ryan Perry said subscribers can sue under VPPA for unlawful disclosure of data, but courts have been divided over the meaning of "subscriber" under VPPA (see 1607060016). CNN said the argument, introduced in Perry's appeal of a lower court dismissal of his suit, doesn't add any signifiers indicating a customer relationship with CNN, such as registration or payment commitment. "At best, [Perry's] proposed allegations dictate that he is a subscriber of his cable company -- not CNN, a single network in his cable bundle that the cable provider can remove at its discretion," the network said. The plaintiff arguments also fail because of lack of any allegation analytics provider Bango -- with which CNN shared data of its mobile app users -- actually identified him or any facts showing Bango could do so, CNN said. In an amicus brief (in Pacer) Wednesday backing the plaintiff, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said Congress deliberately construed "personal information" broadly under VPPA to cover myriad ways identifiers could link to an actual person, and the U.S. District Court ruling "got it exactly backwards" when it said techniques for linking online transactions to individuals didn't constitute personally identifiable information under VPPA. The lower court "also misunderstood the purpose and scope" of VPPA by ruling that people who get videos via a mobile app offered by a video service provider weren't consumers under VPPA.