Victories Suggest Privacy Rights May Be on the Upswing
Its been a cold winter for privacy advocates in the US. Some of the more remarkable privacy concerns to emerge include:
- The gutting of the nation’s privacy oversight board
- Comcast experimenting with home spying
- Companies swapping personal customer data
- The Protect America Act’s encouragement of domestic spying
Spring Brings Increased Legal Support of Privacy for Citizens
Last week in New Jersey v. Reid, that state’s Supreme Court ruled that Web users have an expectation of privacy in their Internet use, and that service providers can’t disclose a subscriber’s IP address to the police without a grand jury subpoena.
The ruling’s broad language suggested the court is willing to consider privacy rights and the use of online data in other contexts.
Also last week, the EFF covered the California legislature taking up a proposal to prevent frivolous lawsuits as an excuse to force ISPs to reveal anonymous speakers’ identities. Californians already enjoy anti-slap protection (SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), which protects an anonymous speaker’s identity if the case hinges on speech, and if the plaintiff is unable to show a probability of prevailing on their case’s merits.
The catch is that courts have interpreted the law’s protection only for cases filed in California. This will stop the practice of litigants filing nuisance cases in other states to force speakers to be revealed.
And a Bit Less Privacy for the State
Also last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the State Secrets Protection Act, which is intended to provide much-needed judicial supervision that could help eliminate the use of state secrets claims to prevent lawsuits or obscure official wrongdoing.
While one week doesn’t constitute a trend, it does provide a welcome break for those who have been concerned by how easily personal privacy has recently been eroded.
Here’s to a long spring break.
The future of digital experiences will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialties in user experience, branding, application design, and data science are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
1 Response to "Victories Suggest Privacy Rights May Be on the Upswing"
January 9, 2014
On the other hand if your product doesn’t worth your marketing efforts then you are spamming.
Advertising using mobile apps The use of internet from a
mobile device is expected to rise above internet usage from a
desktop. – Michael Terpin, Social – Radius, Founder and CEO.