Privacy Law Commons^™

Filling The Black Hole Of Cyberspace: Legal Protections For Online Privacy, R. Craig Tolliver

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Internet is a unique and wholly new medium of worldwide human communication. This pronouncement of the United States Supreme Court echoes what most of the American population has known for some time. The emergence of cyberspace has dramatically changed the nature of electronic communications, and consumers are conducting online transactions at a tremendous pace. While this revolution has obviously increased the amount and types of information available to American consumers, it has also achieved a different result: businesses now have access to an unprecedented amount of personal information. In turn, there exists a danger that this information will be …

The Architecture Of Privacy: Remaking Privacy In Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This is an essay about privacy. My aim is to understand privacy through these two very different ideas. Privacy, in the sense that I mean here, can be described by these two different ideas. It stands in competition with these ideas. It is that part of life that is left after one subtracts, as it were, the monitored and the searchable. A life where less is monitored is a life where more is private; and life where less can (legally or technologically) be searched is also a life where more is private. By understanding the technologies of these two different …

Technologically-Assisted Physical Surveillance: The American Bar Association's Tentative Draft Standards, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As the name implies, the American Bar Association's Tentative Draft Standards Concerning Technologically-Assisted Physical Surveillance is a work in progress...Final approval by the ABA hierarchy is still some time away, so feedback could have an impact. Indeed, it is anticipated that the content of at least some of the standards will change prior to their submission to the House of Delegates...The work of the Task Force on Technology and Law Enforcement has persuasively demonstrated that some regulatory structure governing the use of physical surveillance technology is necessary. This work provides a model for future attempts to establish guidelines for other …

Argument For The Allocation Of Resources To The Development Of A Well-Defined System Of Real Property Law In The Czech Republic, Donovan W. Burke

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note analyzes the enormous burden that the Czech Republic faces in its transition from a command to a market economy. Part of the burden is the privatization of real property. Toward privatization, the government of the Czech Republic has thus far focused its resources on allocating real property to private parties through the process of restitution. Technically, title to real property in the Czech Republic has always been held by private parties, but such ownership was meaningless because the state had virtually limitless power to use the property. The author recognizes that unless the Czech government develops substantive real …

The Consensual Electronic Surveillance Experiment: State Courts React To "United States V. White", Melanie L. Black Dubis

Vanderbilt Law Review

It has long been recognized that a state, if its citizens so chose, may "serve as a laboratory" for economic and social legislation. In an era of new federalism, state courts have experimented by extending individual rights under state constitutions that the United States Supreme Court, beginning with the Burger Court, refused to recognize under the federal constitution. Although this approach has been criticized by the judiciary and academia, it continues to be a driving force in the development of individual rights.

In United States v. White, the Supreme Court held that the police practice of obtaining evidence with warrantless …

Anticipatory Search Warrants: The Supreme Court's Opportunity To Reexamine The Framework Of The Fourth Amendment, David P. Mitchell

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures," and provides that "no War-rants shall issue, but upon probable cause."' Although its language is relatively clear, the application of the Fourth Amendment has created more controversy than the application of perhaps any other constitutional amendment.' Given the questions raised by a police-endorsed practice of anticipatory search warrants,' the search and seizure debate is far from over.

An anticipatory search warrant is a warrant based on a showing of probable cause that particular evidence of a crime will exist at a specific location in the future. Challenges …

Private Lives, Public Selves, Jean B. Elshtain

Vanderbilt Law Review

What of the making public of a letter, what of the vocation of correspondent? Letters are a private genre, belonging in general, Kundera would say, to the domain of intimate life. When they "go public" some boundary is crossed, some violation is committed. Kundera's position hints that the great Oliver Wendell Holmes was perhaps a bit of a monster, seeming in his private life to be very much the "same" man as he was in his public vocation, except for his romantic effulgency with Clare Castletown. Reading this occasionally twittery and school boyish prose in Professor G. Edward White's article, …

The Constitutionality Of An Off-Dutysmoking Ban For Public Employees:Should The State Butt Out?, Elizabeth B. Thompson

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the past several years, restrictions imposed by states, cities,and municipalities on smoking in public areas have survived court challenges and become almost commonplace.' Likewise, both public and private employers have limited smoking in the workplace. A further restriction that seems to be emerging, however, is a refusal by both the state and a growing number of private employers to hire or to continue to employ smokers. These restrictions limit the employee's freedom to smoke not only in the workplace, but also after working hours and within the privacy of the worker's home.

This Note will address the constitutionality of …

The Impact Of Freedom Of Information Legislation On Criminal Discovery In Comparative Common Law Perspective, Michael Taggart

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the effect of freedom of information legislation on criminal discovery in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While all of these countries share the common law tradition and have comparable freedom of information legislation, Professor Taggart notes that the impact of that legislation on the law and practice of criminal discovery varies in each country.

The United States courts generally have resisted attempts by criminal defendants to gain access to a wider range of material under the Freedom of Information Act than available by conventional discovery. So far the courts are unwilling to allow that …

Changing Patterns Of Ownership Rights In The People's Republic Of China: A Legal And Economic Analysis In The Context Of Economic Reforms And Social Conditions, Paul Cantor, James Kraus

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article analyzes the legal and economic effects of privatization and the changing patterns of ownership rights in the People's Republic of China. After an overview of Chinese concepts of property rights, the authors discuss the history of China's post-liberation nationalization process and the movement back toward privatization and decentralization. Privatization has led Chinese law toward the recognition of private rights and duties in property law matters. The authors examine China's basis for altering ownership rights and moving in the direction of a market-oriented economy. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China and Chinese statutes contain specific language delineating …

Florida V. Riley: The Emerging Standard For Aerial Surveillance Of The Curtilage, David J. Stewart

Vanderbilt Law Review

The expression, "a man's home is his castle," embodies one of the most cherished individual liberties in American society, the right to en-joy privacy and freedom from unreasonable government intrusion in the confines of one's home.' Recognizing the importance of this right, the first Senate adopted the fourth amendment, which protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Initially, the United States Supreme Court narrowly construed the fourth amendment as protecting only physical intrusions of persons,houses, papers, and effects.4 Later, the Court expanded coverage of the fourth amendment to include the area immediately adjacent to the home and used in connection …

Privatization Of Corrections: Is The State Out On A Limb When The Company Goes Bankrupt?, Cathy E. Holley

Vanderbilt Law Review

The incarceration of convicted criminals is an important matter to law enforcement officials and the public at large. Institutional correctional services consume significant governmental energy and resources. In 1983 corrections, including jails, prisons, probation, and parole, cost over 10.4 billion dollars. In 1985 approximately 503,000 people were imprisoned in federal and state correctional facilities.' The provision of prison services must occur on a continuous basis, and space must be available for every convicted criminal. As certain commentators have noted, "[o]ne cannot simply let offenders wait in line for an opening."'Historically, local, state, and federal government has overseen and operated our …

Customs Inspectors And International Mail: To Open Or Not To Open?, Andrew H. Meyer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note analyzes the United States statutes and regulations prescribing the standards for the search and seizure of international mail entering and leaving this country. It also examines cases construing these issues prior to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Ramsey. In addition, it discusses the Ramsey decision itself and cases decided subsequent to it. Finally, this Note comments on the confusion that has followed the Ramsey decision and sets forth possible solutions.

The Right Of Publicity: Commercial Exploitation Of The Associative Value Of Personality, Sheldon W. Halpern

Vanderbilt Law Review

For more than thirty years, dispute and confusion have marked the emergence and development of the so-called "right of publicity,"' a right that is concerned with the use of attributes of a generally identifiable person to enhance the commercial value of an enterprise. A dense, complex array of cases, accompanied by and analyzed in an even denser array of commentary, has been the vehicle for adumbrating the emergent right. Battle lines are drawn over whether the creature emerging from the fermenting ooze of modern mass communications is a species of "property" or a purely personal "privacy" interest."Everywhere one finds the …

The Securing Of The Premises Exception: A Search For The Proper Balance, Adam K. Peck

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Recent Development argues that although an opinion endorsed by only two justices is not binding precedent, this portion of Segura represents an undesirable departure from the strict protections traditionally afforded a person's privacy interest in the home and leaves lower courts confused about the constitutional limitations on seizures in the home. Part II examines prior Supreme Court opinions that have defined the parameters of permissible warrantless searches and seizures. Part III explores the circuit court opinions that have developed a "securing of the premises"exception. Part IV describes Chief Justice Burger's analysis in Segura. Part V argues that the Chief …

Copyright And The Moral Right: Is An American Marriage Possible?, Roberta R. Kwall

Vanderbilt Law Review

The 1976 Copyright Act (the 1976 Act) embodies the most extensive reforms in the history of our nation's copyright laws. One proposed reform that is noticeably absent from the statutory scheme, however, is the explicit adoption of protections for the personal rights of creators with respect to their works. Instead,the 1976 Act continues this country's tradition of safeguarding only the pecuniary rights of a copyright owner. By assuring the copyright owner the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the original work, to prepare derivative works, and to perform and display publicly certain types of copyrighted works, the 1976 Act focuses …

Use Of Surveillance Evidence Under Title Iii, Thomas C. Banks

Vanderbilt Law Review

The rationale offered by Congress for requiring immediate sealing of wiretapping tapes by the court upon the completion of the interception period is to preserve the integrity of the tapes by preventing any tape tampering, alteration, editing, or other governmental bad faith. Congress, however, also added an exception to the sealing requirement that permits disclosure of the tapes' contents in a judicial proceeding if the government has contravened the sealing requirement yet has offered a satisfactory explanation for either a failure to seal or a delay in sealing. No circuit court treats sealing requirement violations in a manner that effects …

The Constitutionality Of The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Of 1978, Judith B. Anderson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Within its more limited scope, the Belfield decision provides a helpful approach to FISA cases by articulating both a solid rationale for FISA's in camera, ex parte provision and a workable balancing approach for determining whether open proceedings may be necessary. The Falvey decision, although broader in scope, does not provide a satisfactory rationale for FISA's deviation from the traditional fourth amendment warrant requirement, nor does it articulate a workable approach to evaluating a FISA-warranted surveillance. The Falvey court, by predicating its upholding of FISA on an acceptance of the national security exception, may perpetuate a debate that the statute …

The Interest In Limiting The Disclosure Of Personal Information: A Constitutional Analysis, Heyward C. Hosch Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note examines possible constitutional protections for the individual interest in restricting a government agency's dissemination of legitimately compiled personal information to the purpose for which it was originally obtained. Part II of this Note defines the substantive interest that underlies the individual's desire to limit disclosure of information about himself by the government. Part III examines Congress' response to the growing public concern for individual control of personal information and concludes that legislative action has been and likely will continue to be inadequate protection for the individual's interest in limited disclosure. The next part discusses the possible textual sources …

Antitrust Scrutiny Of The Health Professions: Developing A Framework For Assessing Private Restraints, Robert F. Leibenluft, Michael R. Pollard

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article has suggested that courts adopt an intermediate level of scrutiny, between per se and Rule of Reason analysis. Under this analysis, a rebuttable presumption of illegality attaches to those practices which in other contexts are per se illegal. The weight of this presumption varies with the familiarity of the court with the restraint, its similarity to traditional per se conduct, and the strength of the procompetitive justification.This analytical approach is desirable for two reasons. First,courts are reluctant to apply commercial per se rules of illegality to professional restraints, and with good reason. Professional practices do differ from purely …

Capacity To Contest A Search And Seizure: The Passing Of Old Rules And Some Suggestions For New Ones, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Professor Slobogin examines recent Supreme Court decisions involving standing to challenge search and seizure violations, and argues that the Court's commitment to a "totality of the circumstances" approach has permitted erosion of fourth amendment protections. After concluding that these decisions provide little guidance to lower courts, Professor Slobogin offers a set of principles which will aid in analyzing the Court's direction.

Inheritability Of The Right Of Publicity Upon The Death Of The Famous, Ben C. Adams

Vanderbilt Law Review

After tracing the evolution of the right of publicity, this Recent Development focuses on these recent decisions confronting the issue of descendibility. This Recent Development then concludes that the right of publicity should be inheritable for a designated period of time and that inheritability should not depend upon previous exploitation of the right.

Recent Cases, Richard T. Hurt, Jay D. Christiansen, William J. Rees, William D. Gutermuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Action Under Color of State Law--Legislative Authorization of Private Action Resembling Public Function Constitutes Action Under Color of State Law

The instant case creates a two to two split in the circuits on the question whether the seizure of a tenant's possessions under a land-lord lien statute is action under color of state law. The decisions in Davis and Anastasia provide the potential for abuse that Fuentes was designed to prevent-the indiscriminate entry into the debtor's home and seizure of his belongings without prior notice and hearing.Hall and the instant opinion, however, provide a more equitable result. While the …

Recent Cases, Robert L. Teicher, Timothy C. Maguire

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 1930 decision of State ex rel. LaFollette v. Kohler, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected the earliest free speech challenge to a candidate expenditure limitation. The court held that the state's interest in protecting the integrity of its electoral process outweighed the individual's right of communicating with the public without governmental infringement." The court's identification of the communicative effect of campaign spending anticipated the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Stromberg v. California" that communicative conduct was entitled to protection from government infringement. The Court, however, hampered the effectuation of this protection by failing to define conclusively the point …

Recent Cases, Stephen K. Rush, Joseph A. Latham, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflicts of Law--Federal Preemption--Aviation Law

Appellant-defendants, the United States' and a national airline whose plane had been involved in a mid-air collision while under radar direction from the FAA, agreed to a settlement of the resulting actions for wrongful death that had been initiated in various federal district courts and consolidated in the Southern District of Indiana. Appellants then sought indemnity and contribution by cross-claim and third-party complaints against appellee-defendants, the owners of the other plane involved in the collision and the estate of its student pilot. The appellees contended that since no right to indemnity and contribution existed under …

Recent Treaties, James H. Bloem

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

To obtain information on the financial dealings of organized crime in Switzerland, the United States must show both probable cause and the absence of a reasonable possibility of conviction without the information. Thus, Switzerland has preserved its prudent and traditional requirement of secrecy with respect to transactions of those who utilize its financial institutions. Because the Treaty was drafted in two different legal environments, conflicts may rise under it. The limitation on use of any disclosed information to investigations or proceedings for which the information originally was granted does not coincide with the United States rule of evidence that allows …

Abortion After Roe And Doe: A Proposed Statute, Mark B. Anderson, H. Michael Bennett, Andrew D. Coleman, Peter Weiss, Richard K. Wray (Chairman)

Vanderbilt Law Review

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade' that the Texas criminal abortion statute, which proscribed all abortions except "for the purpose of saving the life of the mother,' 'violated the constitutional right of privacy. Justice Blackmun, delivering the opinion of the Court, declared that the concepts of personal liberty and restrictions on state action provided by the fourteenth amendment supported a right of privacy "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."' In a companion case, Doe v. Bolton,' the Court noted several impermissible procedural as well …

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Notes --

The Strength of Government--By McGeorge Bundy Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1968. Pp. xii, 107. $3.75.

Towards a Global Federalism-- By William 0. Douglas. New York: New York University Press, 1968. Pp. xi, 177, $7.95.

Democracy, Dissent, and Disorder: The Issues and the Law-- By Robert F. Drinan New York: The Seabury Press, 1969. Pp. 152,$4.95.

The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterly, Tropic of Cancer, and Fanny Hill --By Charles Rembar New York: Random House, Inc., 1968. Pp. xii, 528. $8.95.

Justice on Trial-- By A.L. Todd Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964. Pp. ix, …

Equity -- 1964 Tennessee Survey, W. W. Garrett

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1956 in the case of Langford v. Vanderbilt University, the Tennessee Supreme Court recognized the existence of a common law right of privacy. The Court of Appeals, Western Division, in Kyritsis v. Vieron, now holds that injunction does not lie to protect a personal right. The suit arose in the chancery court of Shelby County. Complainant alleged he was pastor of the Saint George's Greek Orthodox Church affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church of North America and Canada, and that defendant was pastor of the Church of the Annunciation affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South …

Defamation And The Right Of Privacy, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The history of the two torts of defamation and unwarranted invasion of the right of privacy has been greatly different. Defamation developed over a period of many centuries, with the twin torts of libel and slander having completely separate origins and historical growth. Professor Street summarizes this history by declaring that there was "a perversion of evolutionary processes," with the result that there was produced "a rather heterogeneous pile which should normally have gone to form a consistent body of legal doctrine, but which on the contrary, comprises many disconnected fragments moving in a confused way under the impulse of …