Privacy boundary in network space

The development of information communication technology has redefined space。In the physical world，It is easy to distinguish between internal space and external space。We need to define the physical category of privacy from bet365 best casino games the dividing line of internal and external space，Similarly, the police also need to determine the implementation standard of the investigation behavior based on the physical dividing line of space。For the external space exposed in the public view，Police can observe without authorization。For private houses、Private car、Personal letter and other internal spaces，Then you need to pass through a layer of obstacles to observe。Enter the internal space for observation，Questions involved in privacy protection。Police can observe citizens' behavior in public places，But the internal space where citizens hide their private information are categories of privacy and reasonable expectations，Protected by law。

 

In the Internet world，The distinction between the internal space and the external space becomes very difficult。The data transmission characteristics of the Internet world propose technical challenges for the definition of space。Network data can be spread instantly、Storage，and can be quickly、Copy freely。Data information is always open during transmission，You can access any node in the network，can also be stored anywhere，and does not need to cost extra costs。Although the data storage also requires hardware equipment，But a large amount of data compared with the physical space occupied，The physical attributes of the space can be ignored。The minimal possession of the data on the physical space enables the electronic data to allocate anywhere in the network。This greatly increases the difficulty of police obtaining evidence，At the same time, I still have questions about whether the theory of privacy and reasonable expectations in the Internet age。

 

Professor Orin Kerr, a professor at the University of Law School of Washington University, proposed to distinguish the distinction between the internal and external spaces of the traditional physical world with the distinction between the transmission and non -transmitted information。Bet365 app download Communication information refers to the information issued or received by Internet users，is the category of communication content。Non -communication information refers。Only with data support of non -communication information，Information on the Internet can only happen。The most typical of non -communication information is address information。Olympic believes，Non -communication information is similar to external space in traditional physical spaces，Profile information is the internal space of the Internet world。Make analogy with physical space，Address information is similar to the sender and the recipient address on the envelope，and spreading information like the content transmitted by the letter。 

 

In the era of network communication，The spread of email can also distinguish between spreading information and non -propagation information。The content of email belongs to Bet365 app download Communication information，and the sender address of the email、The address management information of the recipient's address and the email delivery process，For example, copy、Secret delivery and other functions，It belongs to non -propagation information。Non -spread information passed on the Internet can be regarded as public space，The government can monitor it。and spreading information is a privacy category，The government's monitoring of communication information is a monitoring of private views and remarks。This theoretical point of view was supported by the federal court in the Smith v. Maryland in 2008。Judge the judge of the Smith case distinguished the address information and communication information，and believe that the former is not protected by law，The latter is protected by the Constitution。The judges think，The IP address in the Smith case is similar to the phone number，The IP address of the government inspecting network users will not violate specific communication information。Just like the phone number Bet365 app download does not enjoy privacy and reasonable expectations，IP address、Email address does not enjoy privacy and reasonable expectations，But the content of email is a category of privacy and reasonable expectations。

 

　　The objective challenge of privacy expectations

After the emergence of social media，The simple distinction between address information and Bet365 app download Communication information can no longer describe the increasingly complex privacy boundary。Privacy and reasonable expectation theory has new questions and need to answer，For example, social media users set their personal content as "only friends can see" whether it means automatic abandonment of privacy expectations。Taking Facebook as an example，Registering a new account of Facebook needs to create a personal account on Facebook Central Server and store information on Facebook's central content server。After registering an account，Users can access the preserved personal information，At the same time, you can also set the visible range of personal information，If "only visible", "only friends can be visible"。In addition to the visible range set by the user，The content manager of Facebook can also view user information。If the user's "friend" in social media allows the police to view the user's privacy information，Then users' privacy expectations are no longer established。but，If user friends do not agree to search，So can the police see the user's personal information to social media and save it as the automatic abandonment of privacy and reasonable expectations，This is a new problem that the theory encountered in the era of social media。

 

Social media challenges the reasoning theory of privacy and reasonable expectations is，How to define the objectivity of the privacy expectation of social media users。The US Federal Supreme Court has concluded in the judgment: if citizens disclose the information to the third party，Then the user will no longer enjoy privacy expectations。​​According to this practice, the court generally believes that，Once the user leakes personal information to any third party，Privacy expectations will not bet365 live casino games be established。but but，The legal community questioned the court's judgment standard，Many scholars insist that information leakage does not necessarily cause privacy expectations to fail。One of the necessary conditions for establishing privacy and reasonable expectations is to determine what the third party uses privacy information for the purpose of the third party。The most controversial situation is that commercial companies use users' privacy information to seek commercial interests。The United States and other Western countries have a very different judgment on information communication systems and economic systems in terms of business attempts。In the judgment example of the US Federal Court，The commercial attempt of the bank's user account information is legal。Economy in the United States、In legal habits，The information record of bank users is bank asset，Banks can use this information freely。Social media is an information dissemination system，With typical information dissemination attributes; at the same time, social media is also the leader of the Internet economy，With obvious economic attributes。One of the difficulties that determine the privacy and reasonable expectations of privacy in social media is to use the standards of social systems to determine the business of social media。

 

　Expectation of Privacy Information

The second confusion caused by social media to the reasonable expectation theory is how to determine the expected recipient of privacy information。Before the popularity of the Internet，Telephone is the main medium for people to socialize。Usually，Phone number will be regarded as personal privacy information。The main name of the phone number is called、The expected recipient of the call information automatically becomes the phone number information in the call。Even if there is no "caller ID" function，Called people can still get the call number by inquiry，Call of telephone interaction after the information is turned on。Except for the main calling and being called，Telecom company is also the expected receiver of phone number information。Because if there is no phone number information，Telecom company cannot achieve its communication bet365 live casino games function。Old -style landlines that need to be connected or mobile phone are required for the telecommunications company to lock in the phone number。but，Telecom company is just the expected receiver of the phone number，Not the expected receiver of the call content。So，Telecommunications company monitoring private telephone is violating privacy and reasonable expectations。

 

The focus of the discussion of privacy expectations for social media is，Whether the recipient of content information includes social media companies。For users，Since the scope of privacy information receiving the privacy information of "only friends can be visible"，It should only include the receiver who sets his own permissions，Website、Social software is not among the user's expected receiver list。But for social media，Once the user is registered as a user，The management right of content information is automatically entrusted to social media operators。In the Internet era，Website storage content information is an industry practice，Otherwise, even the function of the user's password login cannot be realized，Because this requires website storage password information and matches authentication when logging in。But once the social media is set as a expected receiver for privacy information，So how to prevent social media from leaking user information to third parties into operation difficulties。Facebook leaked 50 million user information to the example of Cambridge Analysis Company，Facebook can take "legal business attempts" as a reasons for defense，But legal business attempts cannot automatically automatically develop third -party students into privacy information.。Social media challenges the reasoning theory of privacy and reasonable expectation theory is，It is difficult to meet the two conditions of privacy expectation objectivity and expected receiver。

 

(Author Unit: Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)