Federal Wiretap Act: Illinois Court Rejects Claim Over Hospital Deploying Website Analytics Tools

Wiretapping claims have become the focus of the privacy plaintiff's bar, and the healthcare industry in particular has been in the crosshairs of recent filings (with as many as a couple dozen new purported class actions filed daily). Wiretapping statutes have a long history in the privacy and cyber world, dating back to the 1960s in large part. Applying dated statutes and case law to modern technology frequently is challenging. And this is a recurring theme in the privacy litigation realm. While much of the hype is on new state privacy laws (such as the CCPA, Virginia's CPDA and Illinois's BIPA), the plaintiff's bar is opportunistic in repurposing old theories and claims applied to new technology. These statutes are supporting a feeding frenzy of lawsuit filings.