Website Wiretapping
Letters and Lawsuits

So you received a letter claiming that your website violates wiretapping law.

Take it seriously.

Ignoring the letter will not make it go away. A lawsuit will be filed against you.

Several law firms are filing tons of these lawsuits right now. Two of the big examples in southern California are Tauler Smith LLP and Pacific Trial Attorneys.

What are these lawsuits about?

Most of these lawsuits involve California Penal Code Section 631. Basically, this law means that if a non-party eavesdrops on a communication, that may potentially violate the law.

Many courts have wrestled with how this applies to websites, where a company uses a vendor to provide services to its website.

Those services could relate to a chatbox. They could relate to session replay software, which captures visitors’ interactions with the website. Or they could relate to a number of other things.

What do courts say about these website wiretapping cases?

Most California federal district courts have rejected these lawsuits. A company’s vendor to the website is treated as a party to the communication. So there is no eavesdropping and no wiretapping.

If your case ends up before one of these judges, that means you’re probably going to win early. (No guarantees. As always, every case is different. And sometimes those differences matter.)

But some California federal courts have allowed these lawsuits to proceed. They treat a company’s website vendor as a non-party. Which means they are impermissible eavesdroppers.

If your case ends up before one of these judges, that doesn’t mean you’ll lose. But it does mean that you’re probably not going to win early. (So far, these rulings are only in the context of something called a motion to dismiss—which are very favorable to the persons who filed the lawsuits. The judges may decide differently later, on a different motion.)

What should I do about the letter asserting that my website violated California Penal Code Section 631 or another privacy law?

You should contact a lawyer experienced in these type of cases.

We currently represent one company in a case where someone claims that the company aided and abetted criminal wiretapping through its website.

If you would like to speak to someone about any letter or complaint you received, please email Dan Terzian.