The Internet & The Market: Reading Assignments

Part III:  Privacy and Assertions of Information Ownership

Spring 2003

1.  Privacy

Reading

  1. Privacy in the home
    1. Kyllo v. U.S., 533 U.S. 27 (2001) (Westlaw)
    2. Kimberly Stevens, New York Times, Late-Late Show, Starring Your Neighbors (Apr. 13, 2000)
  2. E-Privacy in the Workplace
    1. Carl S. Kaplan, Reconsidering the Privacy of Office Computers, New York Times (July 27, 2001)
  3. Privacy elsewhere
    1. William M. Arkin, Name, Rank, E-Mail Address? , The Washington Post (April 10, 2000).
    2. Robert O'Harrow, Jr., Consumers Trade Privacy for Lower Prices, Wash. Post. (Dec. 31, 1998)
  4. Privacy online
    1. Stefanie Olsen, Nearly Undetectable Tracking Device Raises Concern, CNET News.com (July 12, 2000).
    2. Philip Greenspun, User Tracking (in Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing)
    3. Lisa Guernsey, You Can Surf, but You Can't Hide, The New York Times (February 7, 2002).
    4. Colin Bennett, Cookies, Web Bugs, Webcams and Cue Cats: Patterns of Surveillance on the World Wide Web, 3 Ethics and Information Technology 197 (2001)
    5. Haaretzdaily.com, Big Brother is watching you - and documenting (Feb. 20, 2003)
  5. Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001) (Westlaw)

Thinking

  1. Is the Internet like a "public space" when it comes to privacy?  Always? Sometimes? Never?
  2. Does the new uses to which information can be put require changes in public policy regarding public spaces? Marketing information?
  3. Can/should these changes come at the constitutional level? (See the Cate & Litan article below if you need to review constitutional privacy law).
  4. What if anything does Kyllo teach us about the extent to which the government can monitor home Internet use?
  5. Does Bartnicki stand for the proposition that it would be unconstitutional for a state or the federal government to pass a law prohibiting the collection and/or disclosure of facts learned about persons online?  In all circumstances? Some? None?
  6. What is a reasonable expectation of privacy today?  Online?  Offline?

Optional

  1. Fred Cate & Robett E. Litan, Constitutional Issues in Information Privacy (2001).  Use this as a review if you need to be reminded of the basic constitutional law background.  Paper available for download from SSRN.
  2. Joseph Giovannini, Close to Home, New York Times (June 10, 1999) (Westlaw)
  3. Eugene Wee, Click! Your picture's taken. Click! It's on the Net (some with naughty captions), Asia1 (Oct. 11, 1999)
  4. Paul M. Schwartz, Internet Privacy and the State, 32 CT. L. Rev. 815 (2000) (Westlaw) (pdf)
  5. Iceland's Dilemma: Privacy vs. Progress, CIO Magazine (Jul. 15, 2001)
  6. Philip E. Agre, The Architecuture of Identity: Embedding Privacy in Market Institutions, 2 Information Communication & Society 1 (1999)
  7. Pamela Samuelson, Book Review, A New Kind of Privacy? Regulating Uses of Personal Data in the Global Information Economy, 87 Cal. L. Rev. 75 (1999). (Westlaw )
  8. Jeff Sovern, Opting In, Opting Out, or No Options At All:  The Fight for Control of Personal Information, 74 Wash. L. Rev. 1033 (1999).  (Westlaw )
  9. David M. Martin, Jr., Richard M. Smith, Michael Brittain, Ivan Fetch & Hailin Wu, The Privacy Practices of Web Browser Extensions , Privacy Foundation (December 6, 2000)
  10. Matt Richtell, Comcast Says It Will Stop Storing Data on Customers , The New York Times (February 14, 2002).
  11. Glenn R. Simpson, Census Bureau Blurs Data to Keep Names Confidential , The Wall Street Journal (February 14, 2001).
  12. Clay Calvert and Justin Brown, Video Voyeurism, Privacy and the Internet:  Exposing Peeping Toms in Cyberspace, 18 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 469 (2000) (Westlaw).
  13. Lance E. Rothenberg, Re-Thinking Privacy:  Peeping Toms, Video Voyeurs and the Failure of Criminal Law to Recognize a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in the Public Space , 49 Am. U. L. Rev. 1127 (2000)  (Westlaw)
  14. DoubleClick's Privacy Commitment
  15. RealNetworks Privacy Policy

2.  Privacy (cont'd)

Reading

  1. In re Doubleclick Privacy Litigation , 154 F.Supp.2d 497 (S.D.N.Y. 2001).  (Westlaw)
  2. Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Identity Theft:  What it is and what you can do about it
  3. Lynn M. LoPucki, Human Identification Theory and the Identity Theft Problem, 80 Texas L. Rev. (2002) (Westlaw)
  4. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 , codified at 15 USC §6501 et seq.
  5. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act FAQ
  6. F.T.C. v. Toysmart.com, LLC,  2000 WL 1523287 (D.Mass. Aug 21, 2000)
  7. Jessica Litman, Information Privacy/Information Property, 52 Stanford L. Rev. 1283 (2000) (pdf)
  8. Minnesota Statutes Annotated Trade Regulations, Consumer Protection Chapter 325M. Internet Privacy
Optional
  1.  Remarks of Attorney General John Ashcroft , First Annual Computer Privacy, Policy and Security Institute (May 22, 2001).
  2. Fear of Online Crime:  Americans Support FBI Interception of Criminal Suspects' E-mail and New Laws to Protect Online Privacy , Pew Internet Tracking Report (April 2, 2001).

3.  Privacy (cont)

Reading

  1. ECPA and its limits
    1. Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 , 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2522
    2. Andersen Consulting LLP v. UOP , 991 F. Supp. 1041 (1998) (Westlaw)
    3. Deal v. Spears, 980 F.2d 1153 (8th Cir. 1992) (Westlaw)
    4. Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. 302 F.3d 868 (9th Cir. 2002) (Westlaw), cert. pet. filed, 71 USLW 3444 (Dec 10, 2002)(NO. 02-969)
  2. Other theories
    1. Felsher v. University of Evansville, 755 N.E.2d 589 (Ind. 2001) (Westlaw)
    2. Laura Quilter, The Continuing Expansion Of Cyberspace Trespass To Chattels, 17 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 421 (2002) (Westlaw)
    3. Dan L. Burk, The Trouble With Trespass, 4 J. Small & Emerging Bus. L. 27 (2000) (Westlaw)
  3. Scrapers, Aggregators
    1. EF Cultural Travel BV v. Explorica, Inc., 274 F.3d 577 (2001) (Westlaw)
    2. Kimberly L. Wierzel, If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them:  Data Aggregators and Financial Institutions, 5 N.C. Banking Inst. 457 (2001) (Westlaw)
    3. Maureen A. O'Rourke, Shaping Competition on the Internet: Who Owns Product and Pricing Information, 53 Vand. L. Rev. 1965 (2000) (Westlaw) (pdf)

Thinking

  1. If a web page is open to the world, under what circumstances should the law block access to it?
  2. If a web page carries a notice limiting who can view it, should (can) the law enforce that limited license to view?
  3. If there are "Network effects" from having everyone use a single auction market, and those effects translate into better prices or other efficiencies, should the law prevent scraper programs from undermining the de facto monopoly of a single auction site?  (cf.Richard Warner, Border Disputes: Trespass to Chattels on the Internet (optional), for an argument that the answer is "yes").
  4. Does a similar argument mean we should ban private trading of stocks?
  5. It's my computer.  Shouldn't I have a right to keep you off it?

Optional

  1. Abraham v. County of Greenville, S.C., 237 F.3d 386 (4th Cir. 2001) (Westlaw)
  2. Daniel Roth, Meet E-Bay's Worst Nightmare , Fortune, (June 26, 2000)
  3. eBay Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Case No. 00-15995, Opposition to Motion to File Brief of Amici Curiae.
  4. eBay Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Case No. 00-15995, Complaint
  5. eBay Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, 100 F.Supp.2d 1058, 1069 (N.D.Cal.2000) (Westlaw)
  6. Ticketmaster v. Tickets.com, 2000 WL 1887522 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2000)
  7. eBay Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Case No. 00-15995, Brief of Amici Curiae in Support of Bidder's Edge, Inc
  8. Richard Warner, Border Disputes: Trespass to Chattels on the Internet, 47 Villanova L. Rev. 117 (2002) (Westlaw)


Last modified: Feb. 20, 2003

To Part 1
To Part 2
To Part 4
To Syllabus Index
To Class Policies