Lawsuits and threatening legal letters like these name one of two problems:
A 72-page guide you use yourself, as a PDF and a web page. $67 once, AI guide included.
Every cent back, including sales tax, if you email hello@knowthesite.com within 30 days of the files arriving. No reason needed.
On a phone: the first task and the guide’s first part. At a computer with Chrome: the checks on your site.
This easy-to-understand 2027 guide shows you how to check your site, what to write down, and which setting to change.
4,305 California lawsuits over pixels and other tracking tools, counted by law firm Fisher Phillips up to October 22, 2026.4
They’re for you if you run a small business in California with a website, whoever built it.
They’re not for you if a letter has already arrived, or you want a legal opinion. If a demand letter has arrived, stop and call a lawyer. The State Bar of California’s certified lawyer referral services can help: 866-442-2529.5
The guide starts with one task on your phone, on page 2. Pick your route.
Built it yourself? You’re the web person, so there’s no note to send. Open your home page in a private tab on your phone, using the phone steps. Don’t tap the banner. Write down the labels on its buttons, or “no banner on a fresh visit.”
On an iPhone, in Safari:
On an Android phone, in Chrome:
Then go to your home page. Don’t tap the banner.
In the guide, “If you found this, do this” says what to do with each result.
Someone else built your site? Send them this short note now.
To: the person who built your site
Hi [name]. Could you check two things on our website for me? First: does any ad tracking start before people answer our cookie banner? Second: can a customer close every popup and reach our main buttons with only the keyboard? Please don’t change anything yet. I’ll email you the details.
Neither step changes your site. Neither one makes it legal or promises that no letter will come. From page 2 of the guide, “Do this now, on your phone.” Read a full chapter free.
If you run ads online, the ad platform gives you a pixel to put on your site: a small piece of code. It can tell the ad company which page someone opened, what they clicked, and details about their device. These letters say a site let those companies see what a visitor did before the visitor accepted them. They cite California’s 1967 wiretapping law, the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).
Some customers can’t use a mouse and use only a keyboard, so a button the keyboard can’t reach stops them. They cite the ADA, which the Justice Department says covers what businesses offer on the web, and California’s Unruh civil-rights law.
If a court rules against a business, the law sets damages for each violation:
| Date | California lawsuits counted |
|---|---|
| January 14, 2025 | 1,284 |
| February 10, 2025 | 1,361 |
| July 7, 2025 | 1,845 |
| April 9, 2026 | about 3,300 |
| October 22, 2026 | 4,305 |
The count includes tracking in websites, apps and marketing emails.4,10
Each point is the firm’s own published count on that date. It leaves out arbitration and demand letters.
The Press Democrat
Growing group of Sonoma County small businesses hit by website-based discrimination claims
The Press Democrat’s headline, quoted word for word. May 12, 2026. The suits were brought by one plaintiff who is visually impaired and uses screen-reading software, the paper reports.1
From January 2027, a new law (SB 690) ends private lawsuits under one privacy rule used against pixels. The wiretapping rule these letters cite stays.11
Before: 16 tracking tools start before any choice, and again after Reject. After: 0 tracking tools before Accept.
Our demo bakery site with its cookie banner up: a panel counts 16 tracking tools loaded before anyone answered; after Reject all, the next page loads the same 16.
On this page, advertising and analytics tools stay off until you say yes on our cookie banner.
Stuck: Tab never reaches Book. Works: 7 Tabs reach Book.
Our demo booking page: Tab, Tab, Tab, then Escape; the keyboard stays in the sign-up popup and never reaches Book.
Our second version of the booking page: Escape closes the popup, and Tab moves on to Book.
A free accessibility checker, run on the stuck page, didn’t flag the popup.12
We built this demo site. Its tracking tools are test files that send nothing. We re-ran every count on November 4, 2026, in a fresh browser, and keep the steps and results on a public page. See the dated test record.
AI guide included.
Both guides as PDFs and web pages, with links right after you pay and by email.
Every cent back, including sales tax, if you email hello@knowthesite.com within 30 days of the files arriving. No reason needed.
One payment, no subscription. Sales tax where it applies.
On a phone: the first task and the guide’s first part. At a computer with Chrome: the checks on your site.
Your one-time purchase includes ongoing corrections and law updates relevant to the subjects covered in these two guides, for this edition, at no extra charge. We email you when a revised guide is available. These messages explain the change and how to get the current files; they do not contain sales offers.
Real pages, as printed. Tap one to open it full size.
The California website guide
“Do this now, on your phone”Page 2 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
The Wix stepsPage 45 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Worksheet A: Seven-day logPage 64 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Basic check: One page for the Basic trackPage 65 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Worksheet B, filled in for our demo bakeryPage 66 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Worksheet C: A note to your web personPage 70 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Worksheet D: If a letter arrivesPage 71 of The California website guide, as printed, full size
Worksheet E: Settings before a changePage 72 of The California website guide, as printed, full sizeThe AI guide, included
Free scanners and tracking checkers can’t tell you which setting on your own site to change, or what to write down.
Blacklight lists the tracking a website uses, not where your builder holds it back.14 A free accessibility scanner finds some problems on a page, but can’t decide on its own whether a site is accessible.15 ADA.gov explains how the ADA applies to websites. Your builder’s help pages explain its own screens, not these letters.
The guide puts it together for these letters: which settings matter, how to check them in a browser, what to write down and what to send your web person, for ten kinds of website.
Paid help does other jobs. An accessibility add-on (UserWay’s Small plan) runs $490 a year;16 a paid audit of a 1 to 10 page site (complyTech), $495 to $999.17
One finding, start to finish
You write it down
Example: Worksheet B, filled in for our demo bakery
The guide says what it means
A tag that still loads after Reject is the first thing to ask about. Built it yourself? “Make tracking wait for a choice” (page 43) has your builder’s steps. Someone else built it? Send them the note.
The setting it leads to, on a Wix site
First, write down how it’s set now (Worksheet E).
Step 3. Open Settings, then the Custom Code tab. Open each snippet, click its Code Type tab, and choose what it does: Essential, Marketing, Analytics or Functional. Click Apply.
Step 3: a snippet’s Code Type tab, with Analytics chosen. Picture: Wix Help Center, “Categorizing Your Custom Code”, read October 30, 2026.
From the AI guide, “California: check one chat”
By the end of this chapter: the first message of your chat copied into your notes, or “no notice in the first message.”
Its example first message: You’re chatting with an automated assistant, not a person.
With the guides you can check what your site does, and find the setting to change. These guides don’t make your site legal. They show you what it does.
The short version. These letters are about one of two things. One is tracking that starts before a visitor answers the cookie banner. The other is a page a customer can’t use with only a keyboard. A cookie banner is a box about the site’s use of cookies. It may ask visitors to accept or reject them. If a letter arrives, “If you need a lawyer” (page 10) shows what to do.
Yes. Small businesses are getting letters and lawsuits about their websites. You’re right to pay attention. You don’t need to panic.
Three facts help. A letter is a claim, not a judge’s decision. Many letters are copies sent to many businesses at once. And a letter on its own can’t make you pay.
In September 2026, the Attorney General of Texas warned Texas businesses about letters that use a California privacy law against website tracking. Lawyers writing about the warning said some of these letters may be “fraudulent, deceptive, or at least overstated.”
Here is what the numbers show:
If no letter or court papers have arrived, there’s nothing to reply to. Tonight is for looking, not for rushing changes.
Many websites carry bits of code from other companies. Examples are ad tracking, visitor counters, tools that record each visit, and chat boxes. This guide calls each one a tag. A tag can tell an ad company which page someone opened. It can also tell what they clicked, and details about their device.
Tracking letters say a site did this without the visitor’s permission. Often they say the tags started before the visitor answered the cookie banner. Or they say the tags kept reporting after the visitor clicked Reject. These letters use a California privacy law from 1967. It was written against wiretapping and secret recording. The letters claim that a tag sending a visit’s details to another company, without permission, is like wiretapping.
Two sites with the same cookie banner. In the first, a tag reports the visit before anyone clicks. In the second, the ad tag waits for the visitor’s choice.
The banner alone doesn’t show which kind you have. And having no banner doesn’t, on its own, mean your site tracks visitors. The checks in “Your first look at your site” (page 12) show what loads.
Being on Square Online, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or WordPress doesn’t protect you by itself. These letters are about what your site does. Wix and Squarespace both say their cookie banners may not control code someone pasted into your site.
Run ads now? “Make tracking wait for a choice” (page 43) shows how your builder makes tags wait for a choice.
Did boosting a post put code on my site? No, not by itself. Boosting turns an Instagram or Facebook post into an ad. Meta’s tag for websites, the Meta Pixel, is separate.
Can a tag from an old ad still be on my site? It can. Stopping your ads and removing their tag are separate steps.
Only if you’ve run ads. Never ran any? Skip this. If you have, look yourself:
If either shows activity you can’t explain, ask your web person or builder’s support where it comes from. If you use website tracking for current ads, you may see activity from it. These letters are about when tracking starts, not whether you advertise.
What else can load other companies’ files? A Facebook share button, a Page plugin, or a Facebook or Instagram post shown on your site can load code from Meta. A plain text link is different from an embedded Meta plugin. Ask your helper which your site uses. A chat box or an email sign-up pop-up can load files from the company that makes it. Your web person or builder’s support team can tell you what each is.
Some customers can’t use a mouse. People who are blind can’t see the pointer, so they use the keyboard. Some people with physical disabilities can’t use a mouse either.
Access letters say a disabled customer couldn’t use the site. For example, the keyboard can’t reach a button. A screen reader, the software that reads a page aloud, says only “button.” It doesn’t say what the button does. Or the words go past the edge of the screen when someone makes the text bigger.
Two booking pages. In the first, a popup has no close button, and Escape does nothing. Tab goes around inside it and never reaches Book. In the second, Tab reaches Book.
These letters say a site broke the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA). That is the federal disability law. In California, they also name the state’s civil rights law.
This guide has you test your site with the keyboard. It doesn’t test a screen reader. But keyboard barriers can also stop customers who use screen readers. The note asks your web person to try one.
A demand letter says your website broke a law. It asks for money to settle. To settle means to reach an agreement to end the claim. Tracking letters usually include screenshots of the site. Some businesses receive a lawsuit without a demand letter first. The next chapter covers both.
News reports say access lawsuits have settled for $5,000 to $12,000. Amounts vary. These are amounts from settled cases, not a bill. This week, ask your insurance agent whether your business insurance covers claims like this. Tonight, the useful thing is the phone steps at the start of “Your first look at your site” (page 12).
Sources. The numbers and settlements: Seyfarth Shaw, March 25, 2026; The Press Democrat, May 12, 2026; The National Law Review, September 18, 2026. Banners: Wix and Squarespace. Tracking letters: Manatt, August 20, 2026. Ads and tags: Google on pausing a campaign and its tag; Meta on boosting, the Meta Pixel, installing it, share buttons, the Page plugin and Instagram posts; Zendesk. Old tags: Meta on Events Manager; Google on the Google tag screen and Tag coverage. Sign-up pop-ups: Klaviyo. Insurance: Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, June 29, 2026. Keyboards: World Wide Web Consortium. Read October 28 to 30, 2026.
Do this now: Has a letter arrived? Turn to “If you need a lawyer” (page 10) now. If not, go on to “Your first look at your site” (page 12).
Read your builder’s first page of the guide before you buy. The browser checks work whoever built your site.
Booking built into your site? The guide says: “A Square Online or Wix site can include its own booking, such as Wix Bookings. If yours does, check the booking page as part of your site.” (page 15)
Booking built into your site? The guide says: “A Square Online or Wix site can include its own booking, such as Wix Bookings. If yours does, check the booking page as part of your site.” (page 15)
Booking built into your site? The guide says: “A Square Online or Wix site can include its own booking, such as Wix Bookings. If yours does, check the booking page as part of your site.” (page 15)
Tomme, Inc., a small California company in Sacramento, wrote the guides and built the test site. We read the laws, government guidance, law firms’ lawsuit counts and news reports. The guides are not legal advice. Every legal point links to its official source, so you or a lawyer can check it. The 2027 edition follows the law as of October 6, 2026; its latest correction is dated November 4, 2026. See every correction, dated.
Yes. The guide tells you where to click and which keys to press, and uses our test site for worked examples. Or send your web person the note: it tells them what to check.
Then the checks are yours, and the guide walks you through them. It shows the settings on ten kinds of website, such as Square Online, Wix, Squarespace and Shopify. The note also works for a friend or a local freelancer.
The guide’s first look covers that case, and the note asks your web person about it.
We correct the guides for this edition and email you the new files, free. Every correction is dated on the updates page.
Yes. Email us within 30 days of the files arriving and we’ll refund everything you paid, including sales tax. No reason needed.
Your card statement shows KNOWTHESITE. The seller is Tomme, Inc., doing business as Know the Site.
The looks work anywhere. The law notes are about California, and the AI guide adds six other states.
Every cent back, including sales tax, if you email hello@knowthesite.com within 30 days of the files arriving. No reason needed.
What we collectWe email you a link to this page and the free checklist, for later at a computer.
Sent. Check your email.
Look for “The page you asked for, and your your state checklist” from Know the Site (hello@mail.knowthesite.com). It should arrive within a few minutes. Not there? Check spam or Promotions.
You asked for the follow-ups: 5 short emails over the next 9 days. Each one has a one-click unsubscribe.
We couldn’t add this address to the follow-ups, so none will come. The email says how to ask for them.
Tonight, at your computer: open a fresh Incognito window, go to the page where customers order or book, and don’t click the banner. Copy what you see, and date it.
Six steps in Chrome on a computer, and none of them changes your site.19
If a demand letter has arrived, stop and call a lawyer.
