Over the past month or so, several stories have been making headlines that I’ve fully intended to write about. Facebook’s privacy fiasco, Google’s collection of WiFi traffic, Department of Defense’s offer to monitor private networks, Apple’s iPad data breach, and ES&S’s E-Voting machines’ possible role in the highly suspect South Carolina Democratic primary are just a few issues I should have found time to cover if I intend to take this blog seriously. (I don’t see how those on my Blawgroll are able to churn out as many posts as they do, but hopefully I’ll figure out their secret one day.) However, something I recently received in the mail—though it certainly won’t be making any headlines—has driven me to write once again.
Recently, I’ve been researching issues related to privacy and the Fourth Amendment in preparation for a law review article I intend to write about how our ideas about each will adapt to rapidly changing technologies in the information age. As it turns out, my interest in privacy and information security has attracted the attention of others who are very interested in my interest in privacy and information security—so much so that I’ve received an offer in the mail for discounted textbooks on each of these topics. That’s right, someone has been keeping tabs on all the reading I’ve been doing on the Internet about online privacy, and now they’ve tracked down where I live so they can sell me books on the importance of privacy.
Feel free to take a moment to reflect on the situation if you need to—I realize the irony is almost as subtle as the sarcasm in this sentence.
I’ve been using three different commercial research services, so I can’t say with certainty which is responsible for what I’m sure will be the most humorous instance of data mining I’ll ever be subjected to. Of the usual suspects, however, I’ve relied primarily on HeinOnline, and if I had to put money on which is to blame, Hein would be my bet. I did a little snooping of my own, but after scouring their website, I’ve been unable to find even a trace of anything resembling a privacy policy. The closest thing I could turn up was a link at the bottom of the official HeinOnline Wiki purporting to direct me to a privacy policy, but all it contained was a shameless admission that “[t]here is currently no text in this page.” My disappointment upon reading this evaporated by the end of the sentence, as being a Wiki, what followed was a link to edit the very page containing the privacy policy that didn’t exist. I won’t publicly disclose what nefarious plots raced through my mind in the seconds it took me to click that link, but alas, access was denied to non-administrators. For a moment, I thought I would have my revenge and would be able to write a privacy policy that would very prominently highlight my disinterest in their interest in my interest in privacy, but I may yet have an opportunity to pull the wool over those prying eyes.
The one useful bit of information the site provided was a complete listing of all Hein executives’ email addresses and phone numbers. Maybe I’ll send this textbook catalog their way with some suggested reading of my own: Privacy Law, Chapter Six: Developing an Online Privacy Policy.
What do you think, is the irony too subtle?