I. Introduction
The Internet is one of the mass media. It has become a major source of global
information and a marketplace for commercial transactions. Entrepreneurs’ ability to
gather end-users’ personal information and preferences on the Internet has raised privacy
concerns.
1
The U.S. government
2
and many commentators
3
favor a policy that supports
effective self-regulation to protect consumer privacy online because they believe that the
Internet can benefit more by industry self-regulation rather than by governmental
regulations. Will self-regulation work to solve the Internet privacy issues? In this paper,
this study will introduce some self-regulatory efforts in protecting online privacy. Next,
the conditions needed for effective self-regulation from traditional media’s experience
will be discussed. Factors that contribute to the success or failure of self-regulation
efforts will be applied to the online privacy case. This research will investigate if the
Internet’s special, technological properties affect the outcome of self-regulation. How
technologies help us in protecting our privacy will be clarified. The purpose of the study
1
BW/Harris Poll: Online Insecurity, BUSINESS WEEK, March 16, 1998, at 102.
2
William J. Clinton and Albert Gore, Jr., A Framework for Global Electronic
Commerce 18 (July 1, 1997), available at <http://www.ecommerce.gov/framewrk.htm>.
3
E.g., see Keith Sharfman, Regulating Cyberactivity Disclosures: A
Contractarian Approach, U. CHI. LEGAL F. 639, 642 & nn.17 & 30 (1996). (suggesting
use of techniques, such as anonymous remailers, for protecting online privacy). E.g.,
Steven Bibas, A Contractual Approach to Data Privacy, 17 HARV. J.L. & PUB. POL’Y
591 (1994); Patricial Mell, Seeking Shade In a Land of Perpetual Sunlight: Privacy As
Property In the Electronic Wilderness, 11 BERKELEY TECH. L.J. 1, 17-19 (1996);
Scott Shorr, Personal Information Contracts: How to Protection Privacy Without
Violating the First Amendment, 80 CORNELL L. REV. 1756, 1818 (1995).
Convention