The Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) is a bill that was passed by the United States Congress in 1988 as and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. It was created to prevent what it refers to as "wrongful disclosure of video tape rental or sale records [or similar audio visual materials, to cover items such as video games and the future DVD format]." Congress passed the VPPA after Robert Bork's video rental history was published during his Supreme Court nomination. It makes any "video tape service provider" that discloses rental information outside the ordinary course of business liable for up to $2500 in actual damages. Computer-based VPPA litigation Prior to 2007, VPPA had not been cited by privacy attorneys as a cause of action involving electronic computing devices. With the emergence of new-age computing technology and devices in the early 2000s came websites, 3rd party advertising, and tracking firms that posed a possible risk to the user's privacy. While computer technology was progressing rapidly, federal and state laws had failed to stay up to date. As such, legal actions for violations were minimal to non-existent. A new method to litigate Federal privacy cases was needed to protect the hundreds of millions of people violated by the unauthorized tracking of user's activities online. No law firms had litigated cases involving the computer technology inherent within the exchange of user data between third-party affiliated entities, thus there was no case precedent, no "blueprint" to follow. Earlier cases, such as the double-click "cookie" case in 2001, had relied on using a wiretap statute, the Electronic Communication Privacy Act ("ECPA"). While a plausible allegation, it was a weak allegation since the website user had granted such permissible use within the website's terms of service ("TOS"). In 2007, Texas attorney Joseph H. Malley wanted to develop a "template" to use for filing Federal Data Privacy Class Actions, but none existed. After months of researching state and Federal case law and statutes, Malley determine that VPPA could be the "lynch-pin" to control unauthorized access to user's personal data collected online. He then filed a Federal Class Action lawsuit against Facebook and thirty-three companies; including Blockbuster, Zappos, and Overstock.com, due to privacy violations caused by the Facebook Beacon program citing VPPA., the program resulted in users' private information, obtained from third-party affiliate marketing websites, being posted on Facebook without consent. This act was referenced in the