Online Privacy and Technology Flashcards

Which US law regulates the privacy of electronic communications made by pen register or trap-and-trace devices?

Answer: Pen Register Act (Title III of ECPA)

The Pen Register Act (Title III of ECPA) requires court orders before government use of pen registers (recording numbers dialed) or trap-and-trace devices (recording incoming numbers).

Under US law, what is the primary federal statute governing spam texts sent to mobile phones?

Answer: Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

The TCPA governs unsolicited text messages to mobile phones, requiring prior express written consent for marketing texts sent using automated systems.

What is the 'right to be forgotten' equivalent in the US context, and how does it compare to GDPR?

Answer: Limited state-law deletion rights (e.g., CCPA) that are narrower than GDPR's broad right to erasure

The US lacks a comprehensive federal right to erasure; state laws like CCPA provide deletion rights but with more exceptions and narrower scope than GDPR's Article 17.

Which federal law specifically regulates the privacy of cable television subscribers' personal information?

Answer: Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984

The Cable Communications Policy Act requires cable operators to protect subscriber personal information and provide annual notice of privacy practices.

What is 'pseudonymization' in the context of privacy-enhancing technologies?

Answer: Replacing direct identifiers with artificial identifiers so data cannot be attributed to an individual without additional information held separately

Pseudonymization replaces identifying information with artificial identifiers, reducing re-identification risk while preserving data utility for analytics or research.

Under the FTC's enforcement approach, which practice has been held to be an 'unfair' privacy practice?

Answer: Failure to implement reasonable data security measures that results in consumer harm

The FTC has found that failure to maintain reasonable data security that results in substantial consumer harm constitutes an unfair practice under Section 5 of the FTC Act.