Companies are responsible for protecting consumers’ private information. If a company is in this category, it faced allegations of violating privacy laws and was fined or reached a settlement.
Sources
Violation Tracker contains more than 800 entries on privacy violation cases dating back to 2000, with over $12 billion in penalties. Less than forty percent of cases were handled at the federal level, primarily by the Health & Human Services Department Office for Civil Rights (HHSOCR). These cases relate to the security of patients’ medical records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) penalized companies nearly $6 billion for privacy violations, with a large portion of those cases involving online privacy issues.
Nearly all of the remaining cases come from state attorneys general, and occasionally from consumer protection departments or public service commissions. Missouri and Kentucky have brought the most cases overall, relating to violations of the No-Call Act.
There are a very small number cases prosecuted at the local level, including by the San Francisco City Attorney and groups of district attorneys in California.
Violation Tracker also contains 130 entries on significant privacy class action lawsuits, with total settlements and awards of almost $4 billion. The largest private litigation case belongs to Meta, which was accused of using facial recognition that violated the Illinois Biometrics law – the only state to have such a privacy statute. After further allegations, the case was consolidated and settled in the Northern District of California where Meta agreed to pay $650 million.
Search Techniques
The best way to access privacy cases is through the Advanced Search page. Here you can combine a company name and/or other variables with the privacy violation choice in the Offense Type dropdown. You can use the Full Text search box to search relevant words or phrases mentioned in the description field of the individual entries, such as HIPPA. Use the Level of Government dropdown to limit your search to federal, state or local cases.
On the Summaries page you can retrieve an overview of all consumer protection cases (not just privacy violations) from the Offense Group Summaries dropdown. You can also find such overviews for the Health & Human Services Department or other agencies from the Federal Agency Summaries or State/Local Agency Summaries dropdowns. The Current Parent Summaries include breakdowns by offense categories, including privacy violations.
To locate privacy class action lawsuits, go to the Advanced Search and choose private litigation from the Action Type dropdown and the privacy violation choice in the Offense Type dropdown. Private litigation entries include full case citations. Violation Tracker subscribers also have access to key court documents such as settlement agreements.
