personally
Definition
HOLDING AND REASONING: (Graber, J.) Yes. For purposes of the VPPA, identifiable information is information that would readily allow an ordinary person to identify a specific user’s video-watching behavior. The VPPA prohibits video-tape-service providers from knowingly disclosing a consumer’s personally identifiable information to third parties. The VPPA defines personally identifiable information as including information that identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services from a provider. Because the definition uses the term “includes,” personally identifiable information is not limited to information that directly identifies a user, such as the user’s name or address. The definition also encompasses information that is capable of being used to identify a particular person. Whether information is capable of being used to identify a person must be determined based on the information the video provider discloses to the third party, not on the third party’s special abilities to process that information and arrive at a specific identification. Consequently, a video provider violates the VPPA only if the information disclosed by the provider is information that would readily allow an ordinary person to identify a specific user and the user’s video-watching behavior. Here, ESPN disclosed only the videos watched and the serial number of the Roku device on which they were viewed. An ordinary person would not be able to determine Eichenberger’s specific identity from that information, because the serial number would indicate only that the viewer of the video was one of many who own a Roku device. Eichenberger’s specific identity might have been determinable by Adobe, but only because of Adobe’s somewhat unique capability to combine the information with other data in Adobe’s system. That other data was not provided by ESPN. Consequently, the information that ESPN disclosed was not sufficient alone to allow an ordinary person to identify Eichenberger as the viewer of the relevant videos. The shared information therefore does not constitute personally identifiable information, and ESPN has not violated the VPPA by disclosing the information to Adobe. The district court’s dismissal of Eichenberger’s claim is affirmed.