Internet Privacy: Does the Use of "cookies

William Mitchell Law Review Volume 27 | Issue 3 Article 12 2001 Internet Privacy: Does the Use of "cookies" Give Rise to a Private Cause of Action for Invasion of Privacy in Minnesota? Gregg M. Fishbein Susan E. Ellingstad Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr Recommended Citation Fishbein, Gregg M. and Ellingstad, Susan E. (2001) "Internet Privacy: Does the Use of "cookies" Give Rise to a Private Cause of Action for Invasion of Privacy in Minnesota?," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 27: Iss. 3, Article 12. Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol27/iss3/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact . © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Fishbein and Ellingstad: Internet Privacy: Does the Use of "cookies" Give Rise to a Privat INTERNET PRIVACY: DOES THE USE OF "COOKIES" GIVE RISE TO A PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION FOR INVASION OF PRIVACY IN MINNESOTA? Gregg M. Fishbeint Susan E. Ellingstadt I. INTRODUCTIO N .................................................................... 1610 II. LAKE V. WAL-MART: RECOGNIZING PRIVACY RIGHTS IN M INNESO TA .......................................................................... 1611 A. B. C. D. III. Intrusion Upon Seclusion ............................................ 1612 Appropriation............................................................ 1614 Publication Of PrivateFacts......................................... 1616 False Light Publicity.................................................... 1618 INTERNET COOKIES: WHERE IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION GOING? ......................................................... 1619 IV. JUDNICK V. DOUBLECLICK: COOKIES GIVE CAUSE FOR INVASION OF PRIVACYACTION ............................................. 1621 A. What Did DoubleClickDo To Deserve A Lawsuit?............ 1623 B. DoubleClick's Privacy Policies....................................... 1624 V. PROPOSED FEDERAL LEGISLATION AND PRIVACY REGULATIONS ....................................................................... 1625 A. The Federal Trade Commission Report ........................... 1625 B. PendingLegislation.................................................... 1627 C. Alternatives To Legislation .......................................... 1628 VI. COOKIES IN MINNESOTA: CAN THE CAUSE OF ACTION BE SUSTAINED? ..................................................................... 1630 A . Appropriation............................................................ 1631 B. PublicationOfPrivateFacts......................................... 1632 C. Intrusion Upon Seclusion ............................................ 1633 VII. CONCLUSION ........................................................................ 1635 t Gregg M. Fishbein is a partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, Minnesota. tt Susan E. Ellingstad is a partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, Minnesota. The authors wish to thank Anne M. Nielsen (J.D. Candidate, Drake University 2002) and the debators at the Blake School for their contributions and assistance in writing this article. 1609 Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2001 1 WilliamWILLIAM Mitchell LawMITCHELL Review, Vol. 27,LAW Iss. 3 [2001], Art. 12 REVIEW 1610 I. [Vol. 27:3 INTRODUCTION "The right to privacy is an integralpart of our humanity; one has a public persona, exposed and active, and a private persona, guarded andpreserved. The heart of our liberty is choosing which parts of our lives shall become public and which parts we shall hold close. ') Minnesota recognized a cause of action for invasion of privacy for the first time in the landmark case, Lake v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., in July 31998. The convergence of this newly recognized right to privacy in Minnesota, with the recent and seemingly limitless expansion of Internet technology, raises many intriguing legal issues. One issue involves the recent use of a technology referred to as "cookies," which are text files that are placed by web sites onto Internet users' hard drives when a computer visits that web site, thus enabling the Internet company behind the web site to gather information about that user's activities, preferences, and interests. Impressive as this technology may seem, however, it may enable Internet companies to intrude just a little too far into the personal affairs of the unwitting computer users it monitors. Indeed, the legality of the cookie technology under the common law right of privacy is currently at issue in a landmark lawsuit against the Internet advertising company, DoubleClick. The use of cookies in the United States is staggering. DoubleClick has issued more than forty million of them in just over a year • 4 of operation. A recent study that included a survey of ninety-one of the 100 busiest web sites, and a random sample of 335 web sites, found that web sites collect a vast amount of personal information about consumers. The study found that 99% of the busiest web sites and 97% of the random sample web sites collected some type of personal identifying information. This article will analyze the three new causes of action now 1. Lake v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 582 N.W.2d 231, 235 (Minn. 1998). 2. Id. 3. The distinguished privacy advocate, Arthur R. Miller, has described privacy law in the United States as being a "thing of threads and patches." ARTHUR R. MILLER, THE ASSAULT ON PRIVACY 169 (1971). 4. CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE, Apr. 15, 1997. 5. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION REPORT, Privacy Online: FairInformation Prac- tices in the ElectronicMarketplace: Hearingbefore the Senate Commission on Commerce, Science and Transportation(May 2000) (Statement of Robert Pitofsky, Chairman of the FCC), availableat http://www.ftc.gov/os/200O/05/testimonyprivacy.htm. http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol27/iss3/12 2 Privacy: Does the Use of "cookies" Give Rise to a Privat 2001] Fishbein and Ellingstad: Internet INTERNET PRIVACY recognized in Minnesota under the invasion of privacy tort. It will also address the issues being decided in the DoubleClick litigation and describe the legislation currently in the works to address privacy concerns over cookies and similar Internet technology that renders our apparent anonymous and private activity on the Internet readily available to interested parties. Finally, this article will opine on whether Internet cookies and other computer monitoring devices could give rise to a similar claim for invasion of privacy under this evolving cause of action in Minnesota. 6 II. LAKE V. WAL-MART. RECOGNIZING PRIVACY RIGHTS IN MINNESOTA In 1998, Minnesota became the forty-eighth state to recognize a common law right to privacy.7 In Lake v. Wal-Mart,8 the (...truncated)