For years, most companies treated website tracking as a marketing issue. It lived under analytics, ad performance, and customer experience. That is changing.
A growing wave of lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, or CIPA, is targeting the everyday tools businesses use on their websites, including tracking pixels, chat features, session replay tools, cookies, APIs, and analytics platforms. Plaintiffs are arguing that these technologies capture or share user communications without proper consent.
This is not just a California company issue. If a California user visits your site, that alone may create exposure.
Why This Matters to Leadership
CIPA was originally enacted to address wiretapping and eavesdropping, but plaintiffs are now using it to challenge modern website technologies. Courts have allowed a number of these cases to move forward at the early stages, which has helped drive a sharp increase in filings. The potential exposure is meaningful. CIPA allows for statutory damages of $5,000 per violation, and these claims are often pursued on a class basis.
While we’ve grown to love analytics and data, website privacy claims leave brands at risk of more than just financial consequences. Privacy claims can impact customer trust and brand reputation. This is not just a departmental problem, it spans the entirety of businesses and the internal business processes.
The Website Tools That Create Risk
While most businesses don’t see themselves as operating in a high-risk privacy category like healthcare or insurance, it’s important to note that CIPA claims largely target standard commercial websites. Brands using common marketing apps and customer experience tools that seem harmless are also at risk of these claims.
A disconnect between marketing performance tools and developers using third-party code could easily put a company website at risk. This is why a disjointed internal process or unknowledgeable executive can leave the company open to risk.
Consent is a Central Issue
Evolving technology and robust marketing tools are no longer covered by a simple privacy policy or cookie banner. While these textbook steps were once enough to protect companies digitally, courts are now looking at whether users received adequate notice and took personal action before tracking started.
While broad disclosures may offer limited protection, the website also needs to reflect the intent of softwares installed on the site.
What Companies Should Be Doing
It is no longer acceptable to be digitally illiterate. Executives must be familiar with the content, programs, apps, third-party scripts, and tracking tools used on their brand’s site. Understanding the functionality of your website and digital presence is key to ensuring company-wide communication is aligned with the tools used and the metrics collected to operate and scale your business.
Public-facing disclosures should match that reality. If you work with a marketing agency or digital vendor, it is important to review agreements and understand the data collection they are operating.
The Minx Law View
CIPA is more than a technical compliance issue. It is an issue of executive-level leadership educating themselves and understanding their company’s digital processes. The strongest companies are not the ones with the most aggressive data practices. They are the ones that understand their systems, align their teams, and make deliberate choices they can stand behind.
This client alert is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
