Are Tracking Pixels Considered Illegal Wiretapping? (with Matt Hays)

Website operators are being sued over Google Analytics. And chatbots. And tracking pixels. But not for normal privacy violations – for wiretapping.

Plaintiffs’ firms are using decades-old wiretapping statutes (written for phone taps and industrial espionage) to claim that standard website tracking tools constitute illegal eavesdropping. With statutory damages of $5,000 per visitor, even moderate traffic creates massive exposure.

Some key takeaways from this episode of hashtagOne Minute Matters:

• Claims target Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, session replay, and chat tools
• Statutory damages create settlement pressure even on weak claims
• Privacy policies and CCPA compliance are not enough
• Opt-in consent, technical audits, and arbitration clauses are now critical

If you operate a website with third-party tracking, check out our recent Data Privacy and Cybersecurity legal alert here.