Page 412 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

400 12 Implementation Issues: From Globalization to Justification, Privacy, and Regulation

In 2016, the Federal government sued Apple in order to Cagaoan et al. (2014) describe the issue of privacy awareness in
force the company to allow the government to open the e-commerce. For a complete guide to Internet privacy, anonym-
secured iPhone of a terrorist. Apple refused to cooperate. ity, and security, see Bailey (2015).
The government dropped the suit after it was successful in
breaking into the phone.
Free Speech Online Versus Privacy Protection
Opt-In and Opt-Out
Although the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Privacy concerns have been overshadowed by post-9/11 grants the right to free speech, as with many rights, the right
counterterrorism activities, but consumers still want their data to free speech is not unlimited. The First Amendment does
protected. One way to manage this issue is the opt-in and opt- not give citizens the right to say absolutely anything to any-
out system, generally used by direct marketing companies. one. Defamation laws (including privacy violations), child
Opt-out is a method that gives consumers the choice to refuse pornography, fighting words, and terrorist threats are some
to share information about themselves, or to avoid receiving of the traditional restrictions on what may be said freely. For
unsolicited information. Offering the choice to opt-out is example, it is illegal to scream “fire” in a crowded theater or
good customer practice, but it is difficult to opt out in some make bomb threats in an airport, but there is no law against
industries, either because consumer demand for opting out is taking pictures in public places. Free speech often conflicts
low or the value of the customer information is high. with privacy, protection of children, indecency, and so forth.
In contrast, opt-in is based on the principle that consum- For a discussion of the First Amendment and the ten rights
ers must approve in advance what information they receive it does not grant, see people.howstuffworks.com/10-rights-
from a company, or allow a company to share their informa- first-amendment-does-not-grant.htm#page=1.
tion with third parties. That is, information sharing should For a comprehensive coverage of the legal aspects of pri-
not occur unless customers affirmatively allow or request it. vacy vs. defamation, see Kenyon (2016).
See also the Direct Marketing Association (thedma.org)
for information and resources on consumers’ ad choices, opt- Example
in and opt-out, privacy, identity theft, and more. Anthony Graber, a motorcyclist in Maryland was stopped by
According to IBM, the following 6 practices for imple- a plainclothes state police officer driving an unmarked car.
menting a successful privacy project are: He filmed his own traffic stop by using a camera attached to
his motorcycle helmet. He posted his video on YouTube in
March 2010, and as a result, was charged with violating state
1. Get organized. This can be done by creating a cross-
wiretap laws for audio recording the officers and posting the
functional privacy team for guidance. video on the Internet without police consent. Graber was
2. Define the privacy protection needs. Decide what
arrested and faced up to 16 years in prison for this undis-
needs to be protected. closed recording. He pled guilty to speeding, but fought the
3. Conduct inventory of data. List and analyze all data
charge of illegal monitoring, citing Freedom of Speech as a
that need protection. defense. The court ruled that the state trooper had “no legal
4. Select solution(s). Choose and implement a solu-
expectation of privacy,” and that videotaping is protected
tion that protects privacy. under the First Amendment. The court dismissed all of
5. Test a prototype system. Create a prototype of the Graber’s charges, except for the traffic violations. See you-
system and test it under different conditions. tube.com/watch?v=QNcDGqzAB30&feature=related.
6. Expand the project scope. Expand the project to
encompass other applications.
Free Speech Online Versus Child Protection Debate
The debate over free speech versus child protection began in
For further information on privacy protection, see IBM December 2000, after the Children’s Internet Protection Act
and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (CIPA), which mandated the use of filtering techniques in
(privacyassociation.org). libraries and schools that receive federal funding, was signed
into law. In June 2003, the Supreme Court handed down a
Some Measures of Privacy Protection ruling that the CIPA was constitutional, allowing Congress
to require some kinds of blocking, but the filters must not
Several government agencies, communities, and security com- block too much material. Their review represented the third
panies specialize in privacy protection. Representative examples time justices had heard arguments pitting free speech against
in the USA include the Privacy Protection (privacyprotect.org/ attempts to protect children from offensive online content.
about-privacyprotection), Privacy Choice (avg.com), and Home See the FCC Children’s Internet Protection Act at fcc.gov/
PC Firewall Guide (firewallguide.com/privacy.htm). Finally, guides/childrens-internet-protection-act.