7:59 AM Privacy - Internet Law | ||||
Among the many legal issues presented by the Internet, privacy is a leading problem. In fact, Internet privacy covers a broad range of concerns: fears about the safety of children in chat rooms and on the World Wide Web, the privacy of e-mail, the vulnerability of web users to having their Internet use habits tracked, the collection and use of personal information, the freedom of people to chat and post messages anonymously. Moreover, the rapid evolution of the Internet has frequently brought such privacy concerns before lawmakers and the courts. Privacy concerns are frequently newsworthy. During the 1990s, child safety advocates highlighted special online dangers for children following high-profile abuse cases. Internet commerce has also been affected, too. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report noted in 2000 in its annual report to Congress that survey data demonstrated 92% of consumers are concerned about the misuse of personal information online. Privacy concerns over unsolicited commercial messages arose as Internet users battled to keep this so-called “spam” out of their e-mail inboxes, while in 2001, civil liberties advocates opposed potential abuse by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of its Carnivore hardware, a data-collecting technology attached to Internet services for criminal investigation. Congress has been reluctant to enact legislation, relying upon a privacy law last revised in 1986 and passing only one new Internet privacy law in the 1990s. This was not for want of ideas. Numerous bills proposing Internet privacy protections were submitted in Congress during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also proposed legal reform. But lawmakers showed deep reservations about trifling with Internet regulation of privacy, expressing fears about hurting online commerce and creating an unenforceable regulatory scheme. Internet crime laws passed, but these criminalized intrusive and destructive behaviors without directly creating privacy rights. The legal framework for online privacy thus rests largely on two federal laws, a subdued federal regulatory approach, a mixture of state laws, and contradictory case law from the courts:
| ||||
|
Total comments: 0 | |