Electronic and Communication Privacy Act of 1986
We are all familiar with the phrase, "A little birdie told me." But where did that birdie get his information? If he was like most Mockingbirds in the sky, his information was probably obtained through eavesdropping, which is not an ethical approach. This day and age with technology becoming more and more effective everyday it is not the birds that we have to worry about. Congress has recognized the way that technology has changed society and reacted by passing the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986. There are two main Titles discussed in this act, Title I--Interception of Communications and Related Matters and Title II-- Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Records Access. The an average American citizen does not completely understand the purpose of the Act, or how it effects them. The following will discuss the reason for the Act, the two titles in detail, give examples on how the act works and educate the average American citizen of his/her right to privacy within electronic communications.
Anytime that someone engages in private communication with another individual, they expect that their fellow citizens will respect its privacy. Not only do the customs of society enforce this expectation, statue laws have been enacted to insure it. Everyone knows not to tamper with mail, bug telephones or invade computer communications. There is a wide variety of means to electronic Communication and also a large variety of ways to invade it. The main purpose of the Electronic Communication Act of 1986 is to control those people that do not
"know" not to invade privacy or better, prosecute those who have.
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...t previously protected written ones. It recognizes that mailmen, physical or electronic, have access to mail that they carry, and it requires them to keep it confidential. It sets up some hefty penalties for those who do not take privacy seriously enough. And finally, it sets up procedures for the contents of bulletin boards and other electronic systems to be sought for official investigation. Now we only have one problem left - How do we find out where the bird gets his information from?
Works Cited:
Brinkley, Joel. "Web Site Agrees to Safeguards in First On-line Privacy Deal." The New York Times, 14 August 1998, A13.
Pember, Don R. Mass Media Law. 2000-2001 edition. New York :Macmillian, 2001.
Givens, Beth. "Privacy Expectaions in a High Tech World." Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. February 11, 2000. http://privacyrights.org/