Constitution

• First Amendment Free Association
• Fourteenth Amendment Privacy
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fourth Amendment Search and seizure. Annotations.
• Fourth Amendment

 

Cases

• Adams v. City Of Battle Creek 250 F.3d 980 (6th Cir. May 11, 2001) Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a police department may not tap a police officer's pager without notice to the officer, and governmental entities may be held liable for violations of the prohibition.
• Bourke v. Nissan (Cal.App., No. B068705, July 26, 1993) We concluded. . .that Nissan's actions in reviewing plaintiffs' E-mail messages did not violate their constitutional right to privacy. Therefore, plaintiffs have failed to state a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy.
• Dendrite Int'l, Inc. v. John Doe No. 3 No. A-2774-00T3, 2001 WL 770406 (N.J. Super Ct. App. Div. July 13, 2001) When a plaintiff requests expedited discovery seeking an order compelling an ISP to honor a subpoena and disclose the identity of anonymous Internet posters, the plaintiff must attempt to notify the anonymous posters and identify the exact statements purportedly made by each anonymous poster that plaintiff alleges constitutes actionable speech.
• Feist Publ'ns v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co. 499 U.S. 340 (1991) White pages are not entitled to copyright, and therefore use of them does not constitute infringement.
• Guest v. Leis Nos. 99-4115, 99-4176 (6th Cir. July 2, 2001) Government officials have Eleventh Amendment immunity from liability for seizure of materials commingled on a criminal suspect's computer with allegedly criminal evidence despite the Privacy Protection Act, 42 USC 2000aa(a), and third-party standing under the Fourth Amendment.
• In Re Collins 86 Cal.App.4th 1176, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 108 (2001) Maximum security prisons may prohibit prisoners from receiving e-mail from their personalized web pages in order to prevent them from receiving unauthorized material.
• In re Doubleclick Inc. Privacy Litigation No. 00 Civ. 0641 (NRB) S.D.N.Y. March 27, 2001) Provider of Internet advertising products and services did not violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, because defendant's use of "cookies" falls under 18 USC 2701(c) 2)'s exception: the advertisers are users who authorized the conduct.
• Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. 236 F.3d 1035 (9th Cir. January 8, 2001) Using false pretenses to view a password-protected web site constitutes unlawful interception in violation of the Wiretap Act, 18 USC 2511, as well as unlawful access in violation of the Stored Communications Act, 18 USC 2701.
• McIntyre v. Ohio 115 S. Ct. 1511 (1995) striking down Ohio law prohibiting distribution of anonymous campaign literature as an abridgement of freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment.
• McVeigh v. Cohen 983 F. Supp. 215 (D.D.C. 1998) Granting preliminary injunction against Navy discharge because investigation into whether plaintiff was homosexual violated his right to privacy.
• Shoars v. Epson (Cal.App., No. B073234, April 14, 1994) Plaintiff alleged her termination occurred in retaliation for her reporting of and refusal to go along with Hillseth and Epson's intercepting the e-mail, which in turn violated the public policy and prohibitions concerning wiretapping and eavesdropping stated in Penal Code sections 630-632.5.
• Smyth v. Pillsbury (E.D. Pa., No. 95-5712, January 23, 1996) Even if we found that an employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his e-mail communications over the company e-mail system, we do not find that a reasonable person would consider the defendant's interception of these communications to be a substantial and highly offensive invasion of his privacy.
• Swidler & Berlin et al . v. U.S. (U.S., No. 97-1192, Decided June 25, 1998). No posthumous exception to attorney-client privilege protection of notes of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr.
• U.S. v. Czubinski (1st Cir. February 21, 1997) Unauthorized browsing of taxpayer files, although certainly inappropriate conduct, cannot, without more, sustain this federal felony conviction under the wire and computer fraud statutes.
• US v. Grimes No. 00-40495 (5th Cir. March 7, 2001) A computer repair technician who discovers images of child pornography while conducting otherwise routine maintenance is not a government actor, so Fourth Amendment protections do not apply, and spouse's consent to delete files from the hard drive waives defendant's expectation of privacy.

Statutes

• Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 USC §2701 (1988).
• The Computer Security Act of 1987 Public Law 100-235 (January 8, 1988).

 

Regulations

• Draft Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information 60 Fed. Reg. 4362 (January 20, 1995). These draft principles were developed to update the Code of Fair Information Practices developed in the early 1970s.
• GAO Final Rule
• Procedures To Be Followed When Formal Complaints Are Filed Against Common Carriers Federal Communications Commission The Report and Order adopted rules that are necessary to implement certain provisions contained in the 1996 Act that prescribe deadlines ranging from 90 days to 5 months for resolution of certain types of complaints against common carriers.
• Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board final guidelines for accessibility, usability, and compatibility of telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
• Universal Service The intended effect of these rules is to implement the universal service provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

 

Statutes

• Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. §§2701-2711 Unlawful access to stored communications.
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 18 USC Sec. 2510-2522.
• Freedom of Information Act 5 U.S.C. § 552 With EFOIA amendments.
• Privacy Act 5 USC §552a Administrative procedures for handling systems of government records.
• Privacy Protection Act 42 U.S.C. §2000aa Unlawful acts - searches and seizures by government officers and employees in connection with investigation or prosecution of criminal offenses.
• Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 12 U.S.C. §§3401-3422 Access to banking and investment records.
• State Privacy Laws Each state organized by type of protected information.
• The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 Public Law 104-231, 104th Congress.