United StatesVideo Privacy Protection Act
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force since 5 November 1988.
A sensitive categories rule binding private bodies.
As of 23 August 2026.
What it requires
- Obtain the consumer's informed, written consent before disclosing personally identifiable information about the consumer's video-viewing history to a third party.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Statutory damages
18 U.S.C. 2710(c)(2)(A): liquidated damages of not less than $2,500 per person, a floor rather than a fixed sum since actual damages control if greater, plus punitive damages and reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation costs under subparagraphs (B) and (C). No civil penalty runs to a regulator; the statute's only monetary remedy is this private one, so no penalty_structure is recorded.
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 2,500
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
No federal or state regulator enforces the Video Privacy Protection Act; it is enforced exclusively through private civil actions under 18 U.S.C. 2710(c).
Enforcement record
The Video Privacy Protection Act is enforced only through private civil actions, so its register is a published class-action tracker rather than a regulator's docket. The Duane Morris Class Action Review 2026, in its Video Privacy Protection Act trend chapter, states that plaintiffs filed fewer VPPA class actions in 2025 than the 116 filed in 2024 and the 137 filed in 2023, attributing the decline chiefly to a wave of dismissals, particularly in the Second Circuit, narrowing who qualifies as a covered consumer or provider. The review states 2025 only as a decline relative to 2024's count and does not give 2025's own total, so the yearly filing count is left unrecorded rather than estimated from that comparison. A yearly fine total, an aggregate fine total, and a median fine do not apply to a private right of action with no regulator collecting fines and are not recorded.
- As of
- 17 September 2026
- Trend
- Falling
- Source link
- https://blogs.duanemorris.com/classactiondefense/2026/01/13/video-dmcar-trend-4-the-landscape-of-privacy-class-actions-continued-to-shift/
What it reaches
Obligation class
Consent, Disclosure, Retention
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing a consumer's personally identifiable information about video-viewing history to a third party without informed, written consent, and arms an aggrieved consumer with a private right of action for statutory damages of at least $2,500, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees.
A 2013 amendment allowed ongoing consent through an electronic means, enabling social-media sharing features; the statute has driven a large wave of litigation since 2022 over website tracking-pixel disclosures of video-viewing activity.
When LexLint raises it
automated_outreach
Read the law
Official U.S. Code text (Office of the Law Revision Counsel), 18 U.S.C. Section 2710
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.