Maintaining one’s privacy in the Internet age is no easy task. Thanks to the ever-evolving efficiency of search engines like Google, it takes literally five minutes for a web searcher to discover phone numbers, home addresses, tax statements, personal pictures, and more. Just imagine what would happen if a class full of sharp-eyed law students were the ones doing the searching. Oh wait, now we don’t have to imagine!
At the behest of their professor, Mr. Joel R. Reidenberg, a class of Fordham University Law School students recently scoured the Internet for the personal information of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The project, which was conceived by Reidenberg “to illustrate law and policy issues associated with readily available information, contextual use, social norms and the scope of legal protection,” seems to have upset the notoriously grumpy Justice.
In an article for the legal tabloid, Above The Law, Justice Scalia states that, “It is not a rare phenomenon that what is legal may also be quite irresponsible. That appears in the First Amendment context all the time. What can be said often should not be said. Prof. Reidenberg’s exercise is an example of perfectly legal, abominably poor judgment. Since he was not teaching a course in judgment, I presume he felt no responsibility to display any.”
Whether or not you believe Professor Reidenberg was wrong to give his class this assignment, the greater point to take away from this story is that the Internet has made keeping your personal information private very difficult. Although most people are probably not public figures like Justice Scalia, it is still important that they take proactive steps to protect their privacy online.
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