On Privacy: Liberty in the Digital Revolution
![handle is hein.journals/jhtl11 and id is 229 raw text is:
ON PRIVACY: LIBERTY IN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
Christina M. Gagnier*
Cite as 11 J. HIGH TECH. L. 229 (2011)
In the dorm room of some college freshman Political
Science major at Any College U.S.A is a copy of John Stuart Mill's
On Liberty shoved under the bed.1 Mill's On Liberty, studied for
its discussion of liberty at large in the American polis, makes the
fine distinction that our own privacy law in the United States
currently struggles to recognize:
But there is a sphere of action in which society, as
distinguished from the individual, has, if any, only an
indirect interest; comprehending all that portion of a
person's life and conduct which affects only himself, or if it
also affects others, only with their free, voluntary, and
undeceived consent and participation.2
Our own jurisprudence has recognized these spheres, finding
there to be a privacy interest in matters relating to women's
health issues, familial matters, and other specifically identified
*Ms. Gagnier is a Partner at Gagnier Margossian LLP and CEO of
REALPOLITECH. Previously, she served as the Chief Information Officer of
Mobilize.org. Currently, Ms. Gagnier blogs in the Technology Section of The
Huffington Post, is a web columnist for California Lawyer, and contributed to
CBS News' What's Trending. Ms. Gagnier dedicates this article to Professor
Sherilyn Sellgren, her undergraduate thesis advisor and the person who first
inspired her interest in the field of online media and cyberlaw today. She
would also like to thank Professor Susan Freiwald for her comments on early
drafts of the article.
1. See JOHN STUART MILL, ON LIBERTY (David Bromwich & George Kateb eds.,
Yale Univ. Press 2003) (1859) [hereinafter MILL] (focusing on the nature and
limits of individuals in society).
2. MILL, supra note 1, at 82-83.
Copyright @ 2011 Journal of High Technology Law and Christina M. Gagnier.
All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1536-7983.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jhtl11&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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On Privacy: Liberty in the Digital Revolution
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