Virtual Espionage: Spyware and the Common Law Privacy Torts
Don Corbett · University of Baltimore Law Forum · 2006
Virtual Espionage3 outside world.6 However, as our dependence on computer technology and our Internet usage become more extensive, it is also clear that our sense of personal privacy is potentially under attack in novel ways.This Article will discuss whether the common law torts that protect one's privacy rights-intrusion upon one's seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, appropriation of one's likeness, and placing a party in an objectionable false light in the public eye-can properly and effectively combat the new privacy threats potentially caused by advertising-supported software.7 Part I chronicles the rise of spyware as a problem, focusing particular attention on how it works and how it potentially endangers people like Danielle.Part II will discuss the evolution of the torts that comprise the rights of action protecting a plaintiff's privacy interests.Part III will analyze the applicability of these torts to the possible privacy hazards associated with advertising-supported software.The Article concludes with the premise that under some circumstances, courts can and should recognize spyware-related incidents as actionable invasions of privacy for plaintiffs.PART I American dependence on technology extends to our daily lives in ways that could not have been imagined thirty years ago.8 For many of us, as we head to work, we cannot do so without our Blackberries or tablet computers.9 When we leave work for home, we make a direct path to the Xbox, iPod, or TiVo.IO We can no longer envision our lives without cell phones or home computers.II Our technological addictions have created a new type of arms race that now allows people to store, transmit, and access more information in more ways than at any other time in human history.But for every electronic advance, there is collateral risk.Our dependence is not lost on those who wish to profit from our reliance.Third-parties, like advertisers, marketing professionals, and hackers, have also benefited from the recent technology boom.12 The more we use personal computers, the more "they"