CLASS TOPICS – CHAPTER 13, PRIVACY

TOPIC 1 – “HUMAN-FLESH SEARCH

ENGINE” (TEXTBOOK CHAPTER 13)

See “Web vigilante justice in China draws cry for reform”

“Wang Fei's infidelity deeply upset his wife. She wrote of her distress in a diary, and then jumped from their 24th floor balcony.

Her family posted details of Wang Fei's affair on the Internet, angrily blaming him for his wife's suicide. Soon, tens of thousands of Chinese web users knew about Wang Fei.”

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TOPIC 1 – “HUMAN-FLESH SEARCH

ENGINE” (CONT.)

“Many felt incensed, so they revved up a "human-flesh search engine," which is what Chinese Internet users call their Web hunts. They appealed to fellow Chinese to ferret out information about the philandering husband and humiliate him. They posted photos of Wang Fei and details about his job, his car's license-plate number and his national ID number. Even his parents were drawn into the fray.”

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TOPIC 1 – “HUMAN-FLESH SEARCH

ENGINE” (CONT.)

“In April, Duke University student Grace Wang was vilified after she tried to seek a middle ground between pro- and anti-Tibet independence forces on the North Carolina campus. Internet users in China tracked down her parents in Qingdao, dumping feces at their doorstep and forcing them into hiding.”

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TOPIC 1 – “HUMAN-FLESH SEARCH

ENGINE” (CONT.)

How would we analyze the Fei and Wang incidents under US law?

Lawsuits against individual bloggers or information providers

Lawsuits against the ISPs

Sources of law are drawn from the following slide

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TOPIC 1 – (CONT.) THE LEGAL PROCESS- AN OVERVIEW

1st Tier - Law Sources

1. US Constitution

2. Federal Statutory Law

3. State Constitution

4. State Statutory Law

5. Local Law

Above sources are created by lawmakers and interpreted by courts – Stare Decisis is important regarding precedents

2nd Tier - The Common Law Process

Stare Decisis, or

Overruling Precedent, or

Creating First Precedent

Common law is created by and found only in state court opinions

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TOPIC 2 – VARIOUS INTRODUCTORY PRIVACY

CONCERNS (TEXTBOOK PAGES 564-70)

Drug testing for student athletics

See Vernonia School Dist. v. Acton

Employee drug and alcohol testing

See, e.g., DOL, Laws and Regulations

Genetic Testing

See Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

Polygraph testing

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TOPIC 2 – VARIOUS INTRODUCTORY PRIVACY

CONCERNS (TEXTBOOK PAGES 564-70)

Biometrics and video surveillance

Surveillance through GPS systems or RFID tags

Personal use of camera telephones

See Exhibit 13.1, page 570

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TOPIC 3 – MONITORING COMMUNICATIONS & ACTIVITIES IN THE WORKPLACE (TEXTBOOK

PAGES 570-82)

In 1997, Chevron Oil Company settled a lawsuit brought by four employees claiming that Chevron’s internal email system was used to disseminate sexual offensive content , such as “25 Reasons Why Beer is Better than Women”

The settlement - $2.2 million

Source: Ann Carrns, Prying Times: Those Bawdy E-mails Were Good for a Laugh-Until the Ax Fell, WALL ST. J., Feb. 4, 2000, at A1

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TOPIC 3 – MONITORING COMMUNICATIONS &

ACTIVITIES IN THE WORKPLACE (CONT.)

Management and legal considerations may prompt monitoring company email messages, employee Internet activities, and other employee behavior

Company concerns include

Reducing risk of legal liability

Protecting assets

Preventing loss of productivity

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TOPIC 3 – MONITORING COMMUNICATIONS &

ACTIVITIES IN THE WORKPLACE (CONT.)

According to a recent survey of US companies

76% monitor employee web surfing

55% monitor company email

36% monitor activities on employee computers including screen shots and keystrokes

Source: American Mgmt Ass’n & The ePolicy Institute, 2005 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey 1, 3 (2005) at 1

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TOPIC 4 – MONITORING COMMUNICATIONS &

ACTIVITIES IN THE WORKPLACE (CONT.)

Hypothetical

You are fired after your employer discovers an adulterous affair between you and a company customer

The discovery was based on material gained from your MySpace account, your company email account, and your personal Hotmail account

Using Exhibit 13.2, textbook page 574, compare this scenario to Smyth, textbook page 575, Fraser, textbook page 577, and Fischer, Pittman handout page 23

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