Tapping Out of the Wiretap: Whether Consumers Have a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Against Internet Tracking Technology

What the paper says

The California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a statute born in an era of rotary phones and analog surveillance, is now at the heart of a legal crisis over internet tracking and privacy. Plaintiffs have increasingly weaponized the CIPA against online businesses that use standard Web-tracking tools, triggering a wave of litigation that stretches the statute far beyond its intended purpose. This Note argues that such application misreads the legislative intent behind the CIPA and risks destablizing core structures of the internet economy and financially crippling online businesses. Courts applying literal interpretations are undermining the CIPA’s purpose by conflating commonplace web tools with covert surveillance. By tracking the evolution of privacy law—from common law privacy torts to modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence—this Note proposes a framework rooted in the “reasonable expectation of privacy” standard. This approach reconciles CIPA’s original focus on unlawful wiretapping by law enforcement with the realities of the modern data collection practices. Without judicial restraint, the misuse of the CIPA is overburdening the courts, creating liability for basic web analytics, and distorting privacy law into a tool of commercial disruption rather than a shield for individual dignity.