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Law & Technology
Law and TechnologyA Belated Introduction
By Deborah Pierce
Oct 25, 2001 -- This is an introduction to the law and technology column that will appear in The Seattle Press on a semi-regular basis--belated, because two installments of this column have already appeared focusing on the potential impacts of the WTC attack. In the future, you'll continue to see columns dealing with major events; you'll also see articles about consumer privacy, free speech and other civil liberties issues as they relate to law and technology.These topics are really an outgrowth of my background in the civil liberties community. A brief summary: I am the founder and Executive Director of privacyactivism.org, which has its headquarters in Bellevue. Privacyactivism (web site under construction) focuses on consumer education campaigns, advocacy, and analysis of privacy issues, with particular emphasis on biometrics, data-matching and privacy risks associated with data collection. I spent the last four years as a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), www.eff.org, working on many of these same issues. I've worked with many companies--from startups to public companies--at EFF and now at Privacyactivism.
You'll see much written about privacy because that's my area of expertise, but this column will cover a lot of other topics as well, and I welcome suggestions from readers. Rather than writing all of the columns myself, I'll often involve experts in the different topic areas. I'll also include interviews with people working in the nexus of law and technology in the Seattle area. We will generally try to end articles with actions that you can take--to make your voice heard on these issues, to protect yourself online, or just to find out more.
What you won't see in this column are standard press releases, or comments recycled from the mainstream press.
Some of the broad areas I'll discuss in future columns, with some example topics:
Impact of Law and Technology on Privacy
* Tracking wireless devices, particularly cell phones: Recent legislation requires all makers of cell phones to be able to track cell phone users within a specified range. The benefits include being able to locate you in the case of an emergency, such as if you're lost. But what about the costs to your privacy? Will location information be sold to marketers who can then track your daily habits? Will cell phone users be able to decide whether and if they want to be found?
* Privacy policies and the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P): P3P, a platform that allows online privacy policies to be standardized and machine readable has been touted as being a "great first step" for consumers who wish to protect their privacy online. P3P will allow users to set their own privacy preferences and be able to see quickly if a web site has privacy practices that match the users privacy preferences. But will this really protect privacy of users online?
* Biometrics: Fingerprints, retina scans, DNA, facial recognition technologies; can the use of these markers coupled with other information make us safer? What are the benefits and costs? Do they actually work?
Free Speech and Privacy on the Internet
* The Children's Online Protection Act (COPA) litigation: This statute would bar material that is deemed "harmful to minors" from being available to children on the Internet. Civil liberties groups believe that this statute suffers from many of the same constitutional flaws as the Communications Decency Act that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1997. Status updates and what it means for free speech on the Internet will be available here.
* Public Records on the Internet: Public records (offline and online) serve many important roles--from tracking pieces of property, to bankruptcies, to allowing journalists to keep tabs on our elected officials. But what happens when public records are used for purposes for which they were never intended? Hint: Go visit www.anybirthday.com and type in your name. We'll discuss the tensions between privacy and the First Amendment with regard to these types of records.
Intellectual Property
* Digital Rights Management systems (DRM): DRM systems will affect your ability to watch movies, read books and download music from the Internet, not to mention the huge effect they have on your privacy. We'll explain how they work, the relevant law and what you can do to prevent them from becoming present in every electronic device that allows copying of content.
Washington State and Federal Legislation
* Analysis and ramifications of new anti-terrorist legislation that is being passed by Congress: This legislation would greatly expand law enforcement's ability to wiretap phones, cell phones and the Internet. Some believe that these expanded powers will help law enforcement more easily catch terrorists and prevent them from perpetrating evil acts, but what does this legislation do to the civil liberties currently enjoyed by American citizens? The ACLU has put together a great chart comparing provisions of the various pieces of anti-terror legislation. To view, go to: www.aclu.org/congress/patriot_chart.html.
These are just a few of the topics that I plan to cover over the next several months.
Please send email to editor@seattlepress.com for other topics relating to law and technology that you would like to see covered here.
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