Are all the cookies crumbling?

Zimmerman, R. (2000). The way the “cookies” crumble: internet privacy and data protection in the twenty-first century. Legislation and Public Policy. Retrieved from http://www.law.nyu.edu/ecm_dlv/groups/public/@nyu_law_website__journals__journal_of_legislation_and_public_policy/documents/documents/ecm_pro_060646.pdf

In this article from the Legislation and Public Policy Journal, Rachel Zimmerman, who practices intellectual property law with her emphasis being in litigation, begins with introducing background information on what “cookies” are. She then delves into four main topics regarding privacy with these cookies. This is a controversial topic because, as she states, “privacy law has had difficulty keeping pace with advances in technology.” People are interested in keeping updated with all these advances, however so are the companies and websites that are keeping tabs on us. Throughout this article Rachel discusses the specific threats to privacy that are prevalent today in the world on the Internet. She then argues why the legislature should even be concerned with these threats. After this Zimmerman goes on to evaluate the effectiveness of particular methods that are supposedly protecting our privacy. Zimmerman ends by proposing a solution. This solution proposes revising the “reasonable expectation of privacy test” as well as establishing “fair information practices” that must be regulated by the legislature.

Zimmerman’s piece gives a very good background about what she is going to be arguing about in the article. These “cookies” that she talks about are pieces of information sent by Web sites used to store information on the visitor’s hard drive that can be re-transmitted to the particular Web site if the visitor returns to the site. This is a way for the certain Web site to “keep tabs” on its visitors in order to give them better ads on the side, track what their friends are doing, and to better market to these individuals. Zimmerman believes that these new technology advances “create a certain amount of insecurity regarding the personal data and information of Internet users”. Today, the internet users in the United States face a very serious threat to their personal privacy, which leads to a threat to their safety as well. Zimmerman states that she believes “we are not far from a time when companies will be able to connect a particular person with his or her profile, thus allowing unimaginable abuses of personal privacy”. Zimmerman continues to reinforce the fact that our internet commerce is threatened and that there must be a solution that includes both constitutional and statutory remedies. The constitutional remedy would be to revise the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test while the statutory remedy would be to incorporate “fair information practices” set up by the legislature. The concern for privacy on the internet is a long battle that is fought everyday by millions of internet users.

In my opinion she is right on target. I strongly concur with the idea that there needs to be a solution that is decided by legislature. It is extremely important because every person has a different opinion and bias on every situation. If we had a certain “code of conduct” then everyone could tell when they are violating it. Privacy is a concern for the general public because it can ruin your day in a split second, and possibly even your life. Without privacy there is no safety, and we all know what happens when you can’t count on your safety. As it stands I will need to do more research before I can determine what threats there are affecting me today, and how far they can or will come, however I do know this: my privacy needs to be protected. I have a lot to learn about how dangerous the internet really is these days but Zimmerman helped introduce methods to protect me and explain why they are so important.