Privacy Law

Welcome to our home page for the E-Privacy Committee. This site shares information and resources with our members, and members of the legal community, who are interested in legal aspects and implications of E-Privacy law.

Social networking Web sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster have become established forums for keeping in contact with old acquaintances and meeting new ones. Users can create their own Web page and post details about themselves: where they went to school, their favorite movie titles, and their relationship status. They can link to friends on the same site, whose photos, names, and perhaps a brief description, will also appear on the Web page. While these Web sites are useful tools for exchanging information, there has been growing concern over breaches in privacy caused by these social networking services. Many users feel that their personal details are being circulated far more widely than they would like. In September 2006, Facebook's recently introduced News Feed feature spurred additional privacy concerns from users. Over 700,000 users signed an online petition demanding the company discontinue the feature, stating that this compromised their privacy.

False light is one of the four categories of "privacy torts" (the others being misappropriation, intrusion, and publication of private facts). While the nature of false light claims vary by state, they generally protect people from offensive and false facts stated about them to the public.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act imposes restrictions on the ability of financial institutions to disclose non-public personal information about consumers to nonaffiliated third parties and requires financial institutions to provide privacy notices to consumers.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech and infringing on the freedom of the press.

The United States has been a leader in developing new technologies to support the Internet infrastructure and electronic commerce. As electronic commerce becomes more global, however, there are concerns about how new business models and new technologies might compromise the privacy interests of individual consumers. Some consumer advocates have argued that U.S. consumers need more commercial privacy regulation and have endorsed imposing a privacy regulatory regime on the Internet. Others state that the current legal regime is sufficient to protect consumers' privacy interests in today's evolving economy.

Privacy is a central element of the FTC's consumer protection mission. In recent years, advances in computer technology have made it possible for detailed information about people to be compiled and shared more easily and cheaply than ever. That has produced many benefits for society as a whole and individual consumers. For example, it is easier for law enforcement to track down criminals, for banks to prevent fraud, and for consumers to learn about new products and services, allowing them to make better-informed purchasing decisions. At the same time, as personal information becomes more accessible, each of us - companies, associations, government agencies, and consumers - must take precautions to protect against the misuse of our information.

The Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information; the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information; and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protect identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety.

The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. A system of records is a group of records under the control of an agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifier assigned to the individual. The Privacy Act requires that agencies give the public notice of their systems of records by publication in the Federal Register.

This collaborative Web portal is a single point of access to the wide range of resources and training materials available in the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) that address Privacy and Civil Liberties protections, including products released by DOJ’s Global Advisory Committee. This portal is the result of a combined effort by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

United States privacy law embodies several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into his or her private affairs, discloses his or her private information, publicizes him or her in a false light, or appropriates his or her name for personal gain. Public figures have less privacy, and this is an evolving area of law as it relates to the media.

This Act protects children’s privacy by giving parents the tools to control what information is collected from their children online. Under the Act’s implementing Rule (codified at 16 C.F.R. Part 312), operators of commercial websites and online services directed to or knowingly collecting personal information from children under 13 must: (1) notify parents of their information practices; (2) obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting a child’s personal information; (3) give parents a choice as to whether their child’s information will be disclosed to third parties; (4) provide parents access to their child’s information; (5) let parents prevent further use of collected information; (6) not require a child to provide more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity; and (7) maintain the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the information.

The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) is a national grass-roots consumer group dedicated to fighting supermarket "loyalty" or frequent shopper cards. CASPIAN's efforts are directed at educating consumers, condemning marketing strategies that invade shoppers' privacy, and encouraging privacy-conscious shopping habits.

The Commitment to Consumer Choice’s foundation is DMA’s long-time public assurance that all members of DMA will follow specific practices to protect consumer privacy. This began in 1999 with the Privacy Promise to American Consumers and is being built upon today. The new CCC requirements apply to all DMA members that market to consumers. Suppliers and other businesses that provide services to consumer marketers should understand the new requirements so that they can implement them on behalf of DMA member clients.

EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values. EPIC publishes an award-winning e-mail and online newsletter on civil liberties in the information age - the EPIC Alert. We also publish reports and even books about privacy, open government, free speech, and other important topics related to civil liberties.

An international human rights group based in London, England with offices in Washington, DC and Sydney, Australia. PI has members in over 40 countries and has led campaigns against national id cards, video surveillance and other privacy violations in numerous countries including Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the Philippines. PI sponsors yearly international conferences on privacy issues.

Your personal information is more than your name, address and Social Security number. It includes your shopping habits, driving record, medical diagnoses, work history, credit score and much more. The right to privacy refers to having control over this personal information. It is the ability to limit who has this information, how this information is kept and what can be done with it. Unfortunately, personal privacy is lost, unknowingly forfeited, purchased or stolen every day.

Privacy Journal is the most authoritative publication in the world on the individual's right to privacy. The monthly newsletter was founded in 1974, before there was an Internet, before there was e-mail, and before there was automated telemarketing. Thus, it's the oldest publication on privacy in the world. This acclaimed monthly newsletter is always full of news on new technology and its impact on privacy, useful tips for protecting your privacy, and the latest on court decisions, legislation, professional conferences, and corporate practices.

Privacy Times is the leading Subscription-only newsletter Covering privacy & Freedom of Information Law And policy. It is read largely by attorneys and professionals who must stay abreast of the legislation, litigation, and executive branch activities, as well as consumer news, technology trends and business developments. Since 1981, Privacy Times has provided its readers With accurate reporting, objective analysis and thoughtful insight into the events that shape the ongoing debate over privacy and Freedom of Information.

Privacy.net provides information and tips about Privacy. Read about credit reports, identity theft, Internet privacy and more. Demonstrations of your Internet connection and Internet cookies have been recently updated.

Privacy.Org is the site for daily news, information, and initiatives on privacy. This web page is a joint project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International.

U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety,political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights,where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.

Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Civil Rights including: constitutional law, consumer law, discrimination, human rights, native populations, privacy law, public law and sexual harassment.