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23 Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 471 (2001-2002)
Information Technology and Workers' Privacy: The United States Law

handle is hein.journals/cllpj23 and id is 491 raw text is: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND WORKERS' PRIVACY: THE UNITED STATES LAW Matthew W. Finkint I. INTRODUCTION Cyberspace and Privacy, the topic of a Symposium in the Stanford Law Review, produced six hundred pages of analyses and commentary by sixteen prominent commentators.' Despite the wealth of legal thought, the state of the law in the United States relevant to the topic addressed here has been put in one short sentence: [N]o successful standards, legal or otherwise, exist in the United States for limiting the collection and utilization of personal data in cyberspace.2 Meanwhile, the development and deployment of technology grows apace, far outstripping the law's compass.' As a report on job applicants observes, For much of American history prospective employees were largely anonymous to their prospective employers. The development of computer technology, the creation of readily accessible databases and networks connecting them, has worked a sea change. Dozens of companies now offer comprehensive background checking services over the Internet.4 Depending only on the client's willingness to pay, the agency can report on an applicant's record of unexpunged criminal convictions, credit history, address history, t Albert J. Harno Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law. 1. Symposium, Cyberspace and Privacy: A New Legal Paradigm?, 52 STAN. L. REV. (No. 5) (2000). 2. Paul Schwartz, Privacy, Participation, and Cyberspace: An American Perspective, in ZUR AUTONOMIE DES INDIVIDUUMS: LIBER AMERICORUM SPIROS SIMITIS 337, 337-338 (Dieter Simon & Manfred Weiss eds., 2000). 3. See, e.g., Joan Gabel & Nancy Mansfield, On the Increasing Presence of Remote Employees: An Analysis of the Internet's Impact on Employment Law as it Relates to Teleworkers, 2001 J.L. TECH. & POL'Y 233 (2001). 4. Employment Law Seminar, The Regulation of Employee Information in the United States, 21 COMP. LAB. L. & POL'Y J. 787, 810 (2000). See generally Matthew Finkin, From Anonymity to Transparence: Screening the Workforce in the Information Age, 2000 COLUM. BUS. L. REV. 403 (2000).