Supreme Court to Hear Case on Online Video Privacy
The Supreme Court is set to decide whether Paramount Global violated the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing a user's viewing history to Facebook, according to Ars Technica. The case, Michael Salazar v. Paramount Global, centers on the definition of "consumer" within the decades-old law.
Michael Salazar filed a class action lawsuit against Paramount in 2022, alleging that the company disclosed his personally identifiable information to Facebook without his consent, according to his petition to the Supreme Court. Salazar had signed up for an online newsletter through 247Sports.com, a site owned by Paramount, and provided his email address in the process. He then used 247Sports.com to watch videos.
The VPPA, enacted in 1988, was originally intended to protect the privacy of video rental records. Now, the Supreme Court will determine how the law applies to online video viewing habits.
In other news, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine revealed that nearly half of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) databases that were updated monthly have been frozen without explanation, according to Ars Technica. The study, led by Janet Freilich, a law expert at Boston University, and Jeremy Jacobs, a medical professor at Vanderbilt University, examined 82 CDC databases that were updated at least monthly as of early 2025. As of October 2025, only 44 were still being regularly updated, leaving 38 (46 percent) paused without public notice.
Meanwhile, TikTok users are justified in fearing a shift in content moderation after Donald Trump hand-picked the US owners of the app, experts say, according to Ars Technica. Ioana Literat, an associate professor of technology, media, and learning at Teachers College, Columbia University, stated that users' fears are "absolutely justified," regardless of whether technical errors are to blame for censorship.
Additionally, scam spam is reportedly being delivered from a legitimate Microsoft email address, no-reply-powerbimicrosoft.com, according to Ars Technica. The address is tied to Power BI, a Microsoft platform for analytics and business intelligence. Microsoft documentation states that the address is used to send subscription emails to mail-enabled security groups and advises users to add it to allow lists to prevent spam filters from blocking it.
Finally, a bipartisan crypto bill is reportedly falling apart in Congress due to hyperpartisanship, according to The Verge.
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