Personally Identifiable Information Is in the Eye of the Beholder.

The article discusses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's ruling in Solomon v. Flipps Media, Inc., which upheld the dismissal of a class action lawsuit under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The court clarified the definition of "personally identifiable information" (PII) in the context of digital media, determining that the information disclosed by Flipps Media, including Facebook user IDs and encoded video titles, did not meet the threshold for PII as it could not be easily linked to an individual by an ordinary person. This decision provides significant guidance for digital media companies, limiting their liability in VPPA claims and aligning the Second Circuit with a narrower interpretation of PII adopted by other circuits. The ruling emphasizes the importance of protecting consumer privacy while also acknowledging the challenges posed by evolving digital technologies. [Extracted from the article]