How a failed Supreme Court bid is still causing headaches for Hulu and Netflix

A San Francisco Judge rejected a bid to dismiss a lawsuit against video streaming company Hulu that alleges that the company shared subscribers’ viewing habits with third parties in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). But Hulu is not the only online service that has had issues with the 1988 law -- Netflix has had similar run-ins.

And they can all blame one enterprising reporter and a failed Supreme Court nomination. In 1987, then-DC District Court Judge Robert Bork was nominated for the Supreme Court. Bork was a strict constitutionalist -- and on the subject of privacy, he generally believed that Americans only were guaranteed the privacy protections specifically conferred by legislation. While Judge Bork never made it to the highest court in the land, the video privacy law enacted as a result of his nomination has increasingly become a thorn in the side of online video rental and streaming services.

[Dec 27]