The Consitutional Right to Privacy

Whe the constitution was drafted, there was no internet, so naturally, the internet iss never mentioned in the constitution. Since the internet is never mentioned in the constituition, privacy on the internet is not either. Because of this, there are many varying opinions on what type of privacy on the internet is and what is not. Since the word 'privacy' is never in the constitution, it is known as a "penumbra right" meaning that it is a guaranteed right. The line then blurs when speaking of invasion of privacy on the internet. Since it is not mentioned in the constituition, The supreme court has had to make decisions on what is invasion of privacy and what is not.

When there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, The Supreme Court ruled that citizens have the protection of the fourth amendment, but on the internet, the supreme court still has to define what is a reasonable expectation of privacy. In 2004, The supreme court ruled that internet service providers are allowed to keep customers' identities private, even if the customers in question are suspected of illegally sharing music online. This broadens what is considered private and what is not.

Another problem with privacy on the internet is what can a company collect online and what can they do with that information. On some web pages, privacy policies are put into place although they are not leglly needed. This is however, legally binding as is seen in the case FTC vs Geocities. If on a webpage, a site promises not to sell any information, they are not allowed to break this promise legally. this once again helps to regulate the privacy on the internet.

Privacy on the Internet

For this school year, I have decided to focus on the topic of privacy on the internet as it relates to our government. From 2009 to 2010, the number of young people (ages 13-17) on facebook grew 88.2% as seen on this chart. With more and more people on social networking sites like facebook, it is becoming increasingly easier to access the personal information of others online. Not everyone who uses these sites uses it in the way it was intended. With personal information available to anyone who wants to access it, abuse on the internet is becoming increasingly frequent and with no formal laws on the internet, it is extremely hard to stop the harassment and theft of personal data. As seen here, there are multiple aspects of invasion of privacy on the internet that are not being stopped. This is an issue for not just young people as older generations are also on the social networking sites. I found on these graphs that 25% of users on social networking sites where private information is available are 35-44 years old. This age group has more to lose by the theft of their personal data.