LOKKER is excited to announce the launch of the first privacy software to effortlessly determine if your website infringes upon significant privacy laws, including the VPPA and HIPAA.
This new critical-alert feature notifies companies if their website breaches various privacy laws, protecting them from potential class-action lawsuits or regulatory fines. Developed with website managers and privacy professionals in mind, it provides immediate insights into the compliance status across multiple sites, and it enables proactive mitigation as soon as the threat is detected.
This feature allows companies to check whether:
- Existing web applications are putting them at risk
- If new tags, trackers or web functionality that the team is adding to the site are collecting unauthorized user data
- Any new trackers are introduced by a third party without the web teams’ knowledge
How it works
The privacy solution asks users to specify their industry, ensuring they receive relevant violation notifications. Lokker then scans each page, alerting you to any web trackers collecting unauthorized information, whether it pertains to video viewing data for VPPA violations or diagnosis and patient information for HIPAA and other healthcare-related laws. Users can then establish rules to prevent data sharing with identified trackers in real time, mitigating potential violations.
This new feature allows users to see things that they can’t see without Privacy Edge. It makes all the tech, trackers, and data sharing happening on your site visible, and it’s organized in a way that’s easy to understand. Each element is categorized based on privacy risk level, ranging from critical, high, medium, or low privacy risk. Leveraging this feature, users can proactively identify and address potential privacy vulnerabilities, including identifying toxic combinations of trackers and website functionality cited repeatedly in privacy lawsuits. Things like specific trackers on a page with a video could violate VPPA. Or if trackers on a page with a form collecting sensitive health information, which could violate various state and federal laws, among many more examples.
Why this feature? Why now?
In 2023, we witnessed a surge in regulatory and legal actions against organizations for unauthorized information collection via website trackers and subsequent data sharing without consent.
This encompassed over 80 lawsuits filed under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), targeting the misuse of Meta Pixel to gather and disseminate video viewing data from websites without user consent, with settlements reaching millions, such as:
- October 2023: Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Video Privacy, was settled for $16 million in a VPPA Class Action Settlement.
- May 2023: The Boston Globe settled for $5 million for sharing user video data with Facebook under VPPA.
The platform also identifies the Meta Pixel on healthcare organization websites, pinpointing if it’s present, the pages it’s on, and the data it collects. This is particularly crucial for healthcare providers, including hospitals and online operating providers, amidst increasing legal and regulatory scrutiny surrounding website trackers and data collection practices. Some notable instances include:
- March 2023: BetterHelp was fined $7.8 million by the FTC for sharing sensitive health data for advertising.
- August 2023: Advocate Aurora to settle web tracker claims for $12.25 million.
In total, Bloomberg Law reported over 265 pixel privacy lawsuits in 2023, and the settlements are significant. Other examples include:
- Nov. 2022 – Google agreed to a record $391.5 million settlement with 40 states for allegedly misleading consumers over its location tracking practices
- Sept. 2023 – California AG Announces $93 Million Settlement of Allegations against Google Regarding Location Privacy Practices
- Sept. 2023 – Attorney General Bonta Announces $49 Million Settlement with Kaiser for Illegal Disposal of Hazardous Waste, Medical Waste, and Protected Patient Information
Learn More: Privacy Edge Web Privacy Platform
This new feature represents the latest addition to Privacy Edge, our web privacy platform offering visibility and control over cookies, trackers, and pixels on company websites. It delivers real-time privacy monitoring and blocking without compromising website performance.
To learn more about our platform, sign up for a demo here:
