Arizona Ruling Halts CIPA-Like Privacy Litigation, Lawyers Say
Possibly ending a wave of privacy litigation in Arizona resembling action brought under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), an Arizona state court has rejected a case claiming that marketing emails with tracking pixels violated the state’s Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act (TUCSRA), Womble Bond lawyers said in a blog post Wednesday.
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Plaintiffs in Smith v. Target alleged that tracking pixels in marketing emails were essentially “'communication service records’ because the sender would know when a recipient accessed the email, thereby creating an ‘access log,’” according to the blog post.
But the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled “that the TUCSRA simply does not apply to tracking pixels in marketing emails” and dismissed the case. The court explained that “an email sender is not the kind of person or entity that the TUCSRA seeks to regulate, and a tracking pixel is not a ‘communication service record’ as that term is used in the statute.”
The Womble Bond lawyers called the plaintiffs’ reasoning a “novel theory,” but noted they were “pleased” that the appeals court “rebuffed that wave” of litigation, “which should subside as a result.” While they said the plaintiffs could still appeal, "unless/until the Arizona Supreme Court says otherwise, we expect that the Smith v. Target decision will accelerate resolution of remaining Arizona pixel cases."