Essays on ECPA

I. Introduction Ever since National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden leaked a cache of documents detailing the NSA’s comprehensive electronic reconnaissance program in June 2013, mass electronic surveillance and the ability of the government to intercept and access communication around the world have been of the hottest public policy topics in the nation. The focus of the debate centers on the tension between privacy and security. On the one hand, privacy advocates argue that while the Founding Fathers had not explicitly stated that Americans had a “right to be left alone,” various rights at common law and provisions ...

Shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001, Congress passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. As a result of real concerns over the security of the nation as well as more than a little mass hysteria over America’s vulnerability in the new age of global terror, the 342-page long USA PATRIOT Act, as it is popularly known, sailed through Congress a mere 45 days after the attacks with little debate or analysis but with broad bipartisan support. Indeed, in the Senate, the ...

PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011 allows for roving wiretaps similar to the ECPA, effectively enabling spies to intercept a suspect’s electronic and wire communications associated to suspect conduct under the PATRIOT Act 2000, regardless of their location. This helps track suspects who move from phone booth, handset or computer to computer multiple times in order to foil tacking efforts. Roving wiretapping necessitates interception of email communications (without naming the communications carrier and other third parties involved in the tap). Section 209 allows stored voice mail to be treated as data as defined under section 2703 as against intercepts ...

Introduction

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods and services through electronic means and primarily through the internet. It is a means of trading that has gained massive popularity due to expansion of technology. Globalization, which is characterized by increased human interactions, has prompted e-commerce as people seek versatile means of trading (Primobraga, 542). Some of the technologies involved in e-commerce include electronic funds transfers, internet marketing, mobile money transfers, internet based computer-to-computer trading companies such as e-bay, Olx among others, inventory management systems, online transaction processing, supply chain management, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) among many others ( ...

8. Which of the following theories of privacy supports the right of a person to be free from interference in his/her private space? a) The skeptical view of privacy b) The communitarian view of privacy c) The control theory of privacy. d) The restricted access theory of privacy. Pg24 9. Which of the following theories support the idea that privacy is an intrinsic human value? a) The control theory of privacy. b) The restricted access theory of privacy. c) Deontological view of privacy. Pg 33 d) Teleological view of privacy 10. Which of the ...