CyberNew CyberNew
Threat Intelligence & APT CyberScoop 1 week ago

Wiretapping change sparks big privacy fight in the Golden State

CN
CyberNew Threat Research Desk
• Original Reporting: CyberScoop
CyberNew Threat Intel Assessment
Assessed Severity: INFORMATIONAL
Impacted Surface
Cloud & Distributed Infrastructure
Intelligence Sector
Threat Intelligence & APT

Analyst Takeaway

"A bipartisan update to a California wiretapping law will eliminate the right to sue over internet-based surveillance, ending a key provision of a 57-year-old wiretapping law. Advocates say it is an overdue correction meant to prevent frivolous lawsuits, while privacy advocates call it a blow to digital consumer privacy rights. The California Invasion of Privacy Act, originally passed in 1967,..."

Recommended Defense & Mitigation

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Curated & Verified by CyberNew Threat Intelligence Desk Standard Defense Framework (NIST / MITRE ATT&CK)

A bipartisan update to a California wiretapping law will eliminate the right to sue over internet-based surveillance, ending a key provision of a 57-year-old wiretapping law. Advocates say it is an overdue correction meant to prevent frivolous lawsuits, while privacy advocates call it a blow to digital consumer privacy rights.

The California Invasion of Privacy Act, originally passed in 1967, requires a court order for wiretapping, eavesdropping, interception or recording of telephone calls. Over time, courts extended the law to cover most internet-based communications as well, such as email and websites.

 In 2015, lawmakers added a provision allowing residents to sue companies for unauthorized use of certain internet-tracking technologies, such as pen registers, with penalties up to $5,000 per violation, plus triple damages. Last week, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 690 into law, that gave a private right to sue websites and mobile applications.

Newsom and sponsors of the law say the provision has spawned thousands lawsuits and demand letters against companies for using common internet-tracking tools, like browser cookies, that serve legitimate business purposes.

Pen registers and trap-and-trace devices are primarily used by law enforcement agencies—such as local police, the FBI, and the DEA—as well as national security organizations during active criminal and counterintelligence investigations. Authorized through a court order, investigators use pen registers to log outgoing metadata like dialed phone numbers, IP addresses, and timestamps (and trap-and-trace tools for incoming contacts) to map out a suspect’s communication network without listening to the content of the conversations.

“This measure addresses the vexatious use of CIPA lawsuits and demand letters to extract settlement money from small businesses that unwittingly install software on their websites that at times have tracked and shared the information of visitors to the site,” Newsom wrote in his signing statement. “I applaud the authors’ efforts and align myself with the goal of protecting small businesses from overzealous lawsuits based on a statute written without today’s complex technology landscape in mind.”

Source Verification & Original Intelligence

This threat report was reviewed by CyberNew analysts and cross-referenced with primary security disclosures from CyberScoop.

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