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Reputational Privacy and the Internet: A Matter for Law?

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dc.contributor.advisorBeare, Margaret Evelyn
dc.creatorKirley, Elizabeth Anne
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-28T15:45:52Z
dc.date.available2015-08-28T15:45:52Z
dc.date.copyright2015-05-07
dc.date.issued2015-08-28
dc.date.updated2015-08-28T15:45:52Z
dc.degree.disciplineLaw
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractReputation - we all have one. We do not completely comprehend its workings and are mostly unaware of its import until it is gone. When we lose it, our traditional laws of defamation, privacy, and breach of confidence rarely deliver the vindication and respite we seek due, primarily, to legal systems that cobble new media methods of personal injury onto pre-Internet laws. This dissertation conducts an exploratory study of the relevance of law to loss of individual reputation perpetuated on the Internet. It deals with three interrelated concepts: reputation, privacy, and memory. They are related in that the increasing lack of privacy involved in our online activities has had particularly powerful reputational effects, heightened by the Internet’s duplicative memory. The study is framed within three research questions: 1) how well do existing legal mechanisms address loss of reputation and informational privacy in the new media environment; 2) can new legal or extra-legal solutions fill any gaps; and 3) how is the role of law pertaining to reputation affected by the human-computer interoperability emerging as the Internet of Things? Through a review of international and domestic legislation, case law, and policy initiatives, this dissertation explores the extent of control held by the individual over her reputational privacy. Two emerging regulatory models are studied for improvements they offer over current legal responses: the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, and American Do Not Track policies. Underscoring this inquiry are the challenges posed by the Internet’s unique architecture and the fact that the trove of references to reputation in international treaties is not making its way into domestic jurisprudence or daily life. This dissertation examines whether online communications might be developing a new form of digital speech requiring new legal responses and new gradients of personal harm; it also proposes extra-legal solutions to the paradox that our reputational needs demand an overt sociality while our desire for privacy has us shunning the limelight. As we embark on the Web 3.0 era of human-machine interoperability and the Internet of Things, our expectations of the role of law become increasingly important.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/30120
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectInternational law
dc.subjectWeb studies
dc.subjectInformation technology
dc.subject.keywordsComparative law
dc.subject.keywordsInternet law
dc.subject.keywordsSocial media
dc.subject.keywordsEuropean Union
dc.subject.keywordsEuropean Union Regulation on Data Protection
dc.subject.keywordsDo Not Track policies
dc.subject.keywordsData minimization
dc.subject.keywordsInternet of Things
dc.subject.keywordsGoogle Spain
dc.subject.keywordsRight to be forgotten
dc.subject.keywordsle droit a l'oubli
dc.subject.keywordsMax Mosley
dc.subject.keywordsFacebook
dc.subject.keywordsLinkedIn
dc.subject.keywordsAnonymization
dc.subject.keywordsDeanonymization
dc.subject.keywordsDisinhibition
dc.subject.keywordsAnonymity
dc.subject.keywordsNew media
dc.subject.keywordsDigital speech
dc.subject.keywordsReputation
dc.subject.keywordsMemory
dc.subject.keywordsPrivacy
dc.subject.keywordsCriminal defamation
dc.subject.keywordsDefamation
dc.subject.keywordsBreach of confidentiality
dc.subject.keywordsBig data
dc.subject.keywordsCookies
dc.subject.keywordsChoice of law
dc.subject.keywordsInsult laws
dc.subject.keywordsOpinion
dc.titleReputational Privacy and the Internet: A Matter for Law?
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US

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