Ruling Goes Pandora's Way
A federal judge in OAKLAND, CA has handed PANDORA a legal victory. U.S. District Court Judge SAUNDRA BROWN ARMSTRONG has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed PANDORA violated a Michigan privacy law by sharing information about FACEBOOK users' music choices. In the ruling, BROWN ARMSTRONG found that a 20 year old MICHIGAN's law only applies if companies lend, rent or sell music, and in PANDORA's case, that the law doesn't apply to companies that stream music online.
The lawsuit came out of FACEBOOK's "instant personalization" program that PANDORA participated in during 2010,
MEDIAPOST.COM notes, "MICHIGAN resident PETER DEACON, was irked enough to file suit. He argued that PANDORA's integration with FACEBOOK violated MICHIGAN's Video Rental Privacy Act. That law prohibits companies that rent, lend or sell music (as well as books and videos) from disclosing customers' identities without their consent. MICHIGAN lawmakers enacted the law more than 20 years ago, at around the same time that Congress passed the federal Video Privacy Protection Act -- which prohibits video providers from disclosing information about consumers' movie-viewing history without their written permission."
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