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Internet Law

1996

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Uncertain Privacy: Communication Attributes After The Digital Telephony Act, Susan Freiwald Dec 1995

Uncertain Privacy: Communication Attributes After The Digital Telephony Act, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

This article argues that the coming tide of electronic Federal law protects the privacy of transmitted communications under a two-tiered system. The actual contents of communications occupy the first tier, where they enjoy fairly effective protection against disclosure. Communication attributes encompass all of the other information that can be learned about a communication, such as when and where it occurred, to whom and from whom it was sent and how long it lasted. They occupy a lowly second tier, where the protections against disclosure are weak, ambiguous and in some cases non-existent. This bifurcated system becomes increasingly untenable as advances …