Introduction to E-Commerce Law

Module 8 - Privacy

NARRATIVE

ASSIGNMENTS

SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS

IBLS ARTICLES

NARRATIVE

There is a natural tension that exists between the entities that attempt to gather information for commercial purposes and the people who try to prevent having that information stored and disseminated over the Internet. Questions arise in the context of child protection when a site aimed at young people asks for demographic information in the registration template. When a store clerk reads you back your social security number to verify your identity, a flare should go up. When an employer tells you, in your disciplinary review, that you logged onto e-Bay longer than you logged onto the companies extranet, there should be a cold realization that what you considered private, may be used against you in any number of non-judicial ways. Can they really do that, and get away with it?

Privacy concepts pop up in a number of ways. The first is through privacy statutes that have been passed in countries around the world. In this Module, an emphasis is placed on the United States Federal Trade Commission regulations, and the European Union Directives on Personal Data.

We will also look at the delicate and interesting question of transfer of personal data across the borders, with the joint EU-US approach of a “safe harbor” policy used by US organizations to receive personal data from the EU. As we will see, the threat of international terrorism has shed a new light to this issue.

In the employment context, employers are very much concerned by their employees’ Internet browsing habits, first because employees who spend too much time on the Internet are not very productive, but also because the Internet might be a source of legal responsibility for the employer, as the recent law suits for cyber harassment, disclosure of trade secrets or copyright infringement have shown. As a consequence, employers are sometimes eager to monitor employees' emails. In this Module, we will look at what are the acceptable acts of employers in their attempts to protect trade secrets and company data files and servers.

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ASSIGNMENTS

Reading assignment only.

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SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS

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IBLS ARTICLES

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