Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., proposed updating the...
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., proposed updating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) to permit consumers to voluntarily share their video-watching history. The proposal, which could have implications for online video streaming sites that seek more integration with…
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social networks, was filed as an amendment to the Senate Cybersecurity Act (S-3414). The amendment would reform the VPPA to allow any person to permit the sharing of their video habits as long as their video provider allows the consumer to easily withdraw such disclosures. Leahy had previously advocated reforming the 24-year-old law but said during a Senate Privacy Subcommittee hearing earlier this year he had concerns that a one-time user consent checkoff could become an “all-time surrender of privacy” (CD Feb 1 p10). “Privacy is first and foremost about control and choice, and if that is the purpose and effect of Senator Leahy’s amendment it is a wise idea,” Christopher Wolf, director of Hogan Lovells’ privacy and information management practice group and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, told us. If Leahy’s amendment to S-3414 becomes law it would provide an opportunity for people to share their video preference with their friends and “create their online brand,” said Wolf, who testified at the subcommittee hearing: “People want to share what they are doing in many respects, and online video is one of those respects.” Users on Facebook already use social sharing applications to notify their followers when they read certain news articles or listen to Spotify songs, he said. Wolf said the proposal wouldn’t be limited to Netflix users and could present new opportunities for traditional video content providers. The House passed a separate VPPA reform bill, HR-2471, in December by a vote of 303-116. Neither Netflix nor Facebook responded to our request for comment.