Privacy Law Commons^™

Redefining The Injury-In-Fact: Treating Personally Identifying Information As Bailed Property, Austin Headrick

Georgia Law Review

There is a long-existing circuit split among federal courts of appeals as to whether an individual has standing under Article III of the United States Constitution when their personally identifying information (PII) is stolen from an entity to which they entrusted it such as a hospital or bank. Federal courts disagree as to whether an individual whose PII has been stolen—without more—has suffered an injury-in-fact, a necessary element of standing. The disagreement between the courts centers on whether the injury-in-fact has already occurred at the time the PII is stolen or whether the injury occurs once the PII has been …

The End Of Miller’S Time: How Sensitivity Can Categorize Third-Party Data After Carpenter, Michael Gentithes

Georgia Law Review

For over 40 years, the Supreme Court has permitted
government investigators to warrantlessly collect
information that citizens disclose to third-party service
providers. That third-party doctrine is under significant
strain in the modern, networked world. Yet scholarly
responses typically fall into unhelpfully extreme camps,
either championing an absolute version of the doctrine
or calling for its abolition. In Carpenter v. United
States, the Court suggested a middle road, holding that
some categories of data—such as digital location
information collected from cell phones—do not neatly
fall into the third-party doctrine’s dichotomy between
unprotected, disclosed information and protected,
undisclosed information. But the majority …

Simon Didn't Say: When Reconstruction Of A Private Search Goes Awry Under The Private Search Doctrine, John G. Chambers

Georgia Law Review

A privateparty conducting an unreasonablesearch of an
individual need not fear the Fourth Amendment as the
proscriptions therein are applicable against only the
government. The government, however, need not fear the
Fourth Amendment where it replicates that private party's
unreasonable search. As such, the Fourth Amendment is
not offended where the government directs the private

party to "reconstruct" its initial search. This
reconstruction doctrine breeds many questions in
application, particularly in the digital context. In
grappling with these questions, this Note demonstrates
that the current law provides no satisfying answers. It
proposes a new test to assess reconstructed private party …

Personal Property Servitudes On The Internet Of Things, Christina Mulligan

Georgia Law Review

Small appliances such as thermostats, watches, jewelry, and eyewear are now being made available with networking capability. These networked objects make up the growing Internet of Things-pieces of personal property that run software and connect to the global Internet. These products are typically governed by terms of service or end-user license agreements that create restrictions on how products can be used or transferred- restrictions which would be unenforceable if the inside of the product consisted of gears rather than processing chips. This Article explores the question of when use and transfer restrictions should be enforceable on networked appliances and other …

All Blogs Go To Heaven: Preserving Valuable Digital Assets Without The Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act's Removal Of Third Party Privacy Protections, Elizabeth D. Barwick

Georgia Law Review

In the age of the Internet, most of us live our lives largely online. As such, one would expect a concomitant increase in concern for privacy, but this is not necessarily the case. It seems that the instantaneous and anonymous nature of the Internet has given rise to thoughtless sharing that simply did not exist when it was necessary to put pen to paper. Understanding that a great deal of our day-to-day activities are now carried out over the Internet, it makes sense that our families and heirs would want or need access to our accounts in the event of …

Without A Pilot: Navigating The Space Between The First Amendment And State And Federal Directives Affecting Drone Journalism, Leah M. Davis

Georgia Law Review

A new player in American airspace, the drone, creates greater opportunities for news gathering. But with new opportunities, come new rules. Current legislatures, regulators and courts face the challenge of creating and enforcing a legal framework by which this new technology can be integrated into American airspace. The debate surrounding proper drone directives is influenced by competing policies of privacy, security, and First Amendment concerns. This Note surveys past and present state and federal directives on drone use, and argues for the creation of a separate set of guidelines for Press drones. Separate directives would ensure that news outlets are …

Genetic Privacy & The Fourth Amendment: Unregulated Surreptitious Dna Harvesting, Albert E. Scherr

Georgia Law Review

Genetic privacy and police practices have come to the
fore in the criminal justice system. Case law and stories
in the media document that police are surreptitiously
harvesting the out-of-body DNA of putative suspects.
Some sources even indicate that surreptitious data
banking may also be in its infancy. Surreptitious
harvesting of out-of-body DNA by the police is currently
unregulated by the Fourth Amendment. The few courts
that have addressed the issue find that the police are free
to harvest DNA abandoned by a putative suspect in a
public place. Little in the nascent surreptitious harvesting
case law suggests that surreptitious …

Chain-Link Confidentiality, Woodrow Hartzog

Georgia Law Review

Disclosing personal information online often feels like
losing control over one's data forever; but it does not have
to be that way. This Essay proposes a "chain-link
confidentiality" approach to protecting online privacy.
One of the most difficult challenges to guarding privacy in
the digital age is the protection of information once it is
exposed to other people. A chain-link confidentiality
regime would link the disclosure of personal information
to obligations to protect that information as the
information moves downstream. It would focus on the
relationships not only between the discloser of information
and the initial recipient but also between …