Melanie Conroy Quoted in Bloomberg Law: Wiretap Suits Pit Old Privacy Laws Against New AI Technology

As reported in this article on Bloomberg Law, there has been a continued increase in the number of lawsuits challenging “AI-powered customer service systems as illegal wiretaps,” forcing the courts to figure out whether and how to “apply older privacy laws to emerging technology.”

Melanie Conroy, a Pierce Atwood litigation and class action partner who focuses on privacy and data security, noted that while wiretapping claims aren’t new in consumer-privacy litigation, the AI-focused lawsuits are “an augmentation of existing theories that have been tried by plaintiffs’ attorneys in cases involving earlier technologies, such as chat tools, pixel tracking tools, and assistive technology to enhance the customer service call experience.”

According to Bloomberg, the main thrust of the litigation is “the claim that companies using these tools have disclosed consumers’ data and communications to third parties—the providers of the tools and technologies—without informing consumers or obtaining their consent.”

Melanie noted that the use of AI technology “adds another layer," and that "AI has become a lightning rod in our culture … and certainly could elicit different consumer decisions.”

Melanie and the firm’s privacy attorneys have written extensively on this issue. Click any of the links to the right for client alerts on some of the emerging litigation trends related to AI-powered technology.

Click here to read the complete article by Christopher Brown of Bloomberg Law.