In clarifying when a website visitor’s information is considered “intercepted” by third parties under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, a new federal court ruling could have the potential to reshape data privacy disputes in the state, according to the judge presiding over the case.

“The questions presented in this case undoubtedly have the potential to broadly impact the manners and methods by which individuals and entities collect and transmit information across web platforms in Pennsylvania,” wrote U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV of the Western District of Pennsylvania in a June 17 opinion dismissing plaintiff Ashley Popa’s class action against Harriet Carter Gifts and Navistone.