Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6.805/6.806/STS085 Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier
Spring Semester, 2001
March 1
Current developments in privacy law
Topic for today
In this class, we'll relate the modern foundations of privacy law
with current legal developments both in the US and abroad, and cases
recently decided. There's been a lot of required reading this week
and last week. You'll get a break next week.
Readings to do before class
Laws/Statutes
Cases
-
Whalen v. Roe, 429
US 589 (1977). This case is a landmark decision in privacy. In
Whelan, the Supreme Court recognized a Constitutional interest in the
protection of certain personal information, even though the decision
upheld a New York State law that mandated the reporting of personal
information on people obtaining certain prescription drugs.
-
US West v. FCC (CA10 1999). This 1999 decision by the
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned, on freedom of speech
grounds, the FCC's so-called "CPNI rules" ("Consumer Proprietary
Network Information"), which placed restrictions on the use and
diclosure by telecommunications carriers of certain consumer personal
information.
Focus on a new privacy statute:
Newly proposed privacy legislation
Read the text of some new bills introduced in Congress. The links
below are to the Congressional "Thomas" web site. For each bill, look
under "text of legislation".
- Privacy Commission Act (Hutchinson) HR
583
- Consumer Internet Privacy Enhancement Act (McCain) S. 2928
- Spyware Control and Privacy Protection Act of 2001 (Edwards/Hollings) S. 197