Business
California law curbs private website-tracking lawsuits
SB 690 limits who can bring one class of online tracking claims and applies the change to certain pending cases, potentially reshaping thousands of lawsuits.
California has enacted Senate Bill 690, narrowing private lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act that target cookies, pixels and other website-tracking tools, Reuters reported October 1. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the measure September 30, and the change takes effect January 1, 2027.
What it means locally
The law says only the California attorney general may bring claims against private actors under the act’s pen-register and trap-and-trace provision when the alleged conduct occurs on a website, online application or mobile application. It applies retroactively to pending claims in actions filed within two years before the law’s operative date. Reuters reported that more than 4,700 digital-wiretap cases have been filed since 2022, with roughly two-thirds including this type of claim. The law does not eliminate other privacy claims under state or federal law. The accompanying photograph shows a partially closed laptop in April 2020 and is illustrative; it does not depict a lawsuit, business or enforcement action discussed in the reporting.
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