Contract Formation
Table of contents
In order to eliminate spam, this Wiki requires a login. To request a wiki account, e-mail aaron.titus, thomas.gideon, or robert.obrien [at] this domain.
In the United States, Privacy Policies are generally considered non-binding notices. The purpose of this working group is to figure out how to create mutual contractual obligations: Privacy rights and privacy obligations.
Potential Legal Premisies Underpinning Privacy
Please expand the discussion! These are stubs.
Intellectual Property Law
Premise: An individual accrues ownership interest in information about himself through some operation of law. Based on that ownership right, a person has a right to exclude others from viewing, using, disseminating, accumulating, etc. Or alternatively, license these rights.
Strenths: It's familiar.
Weaknesses: Very limited and unhelpful rights, if they exist. Accruing ownership of personal information is problematic, especially since most sensitive personal information is created by third parties (ie, SSN, DOB, Name, Contact information, Credit Card Number, etc). Drawing lines between ownership of different types of third-party-created personal information is problematic (For example, try to distinguish an individual's ownership rights to a third-party-created SSN to ownership rights in damaging third-party-created gossip). The right to exclude cannot be indefinite. The right to "exclude" must cease when the individual transfers "title" to another. Unlike typical property, personal information is inherently inalienable. In addition, if self is data and data is property, then self may become property.
Contract Law
Premise: Personal information cannot be owned, but parties may contract for additional protection of personal information.
Strengths: Contract theories easily accomodate these arrangements.
Weaknesses: Contracts are not easily adaptable to new or emerging technologies and abuses of personal information.
Natural Law/ Selfhood
Premise: One's data profile is a literal digital alter-ego, capable of entering contracts, commiting torts, or being kidnapped. If self is data and data is property, then self may become property. Therefore, trafficking data profiles is analogous to human trafficking.
Strengths: Identifies a potentially broad principle underlying privacy.
Weaknesses: Even the most liberal human rights law would have to make a quantum leap to recognize the existence of a digital alter-ego.
- Tag page
-
- What links here
