Chapter 26 Practice Exam

Matching Questions

Match the following terms with their definitions:

(1) A. ECPA

(5) C. CFAA

(3) D. COPPA

1. Regulates e-mail.

3. Regulates collection of information from children.

5. Regulates computer hacking.

True/False Questions

Circle true or false:

1. T F The First Amendment to the Constitution protects bloggers who post insults about other people.

3. T F The FTC requires Web sites to establish a privacy policy and then abide by it.

5. T F The police can read anyone’s e-mail anytime as long as they have probable cause to believe that the e-mail will reveal evidence of a crime.

Multiple-Choice Questions

7. Three terrorists are plotting to blow up a high-rise office building, which could lead to thousands of deaths. The police capture their computers and read the files before obtaining a warrant. Which of the following searches would be illegal?

I. Marshall has written elaborate plans, which are stored on the hard drive of his laptop.

II. Winston has violated school policies by downloading plans for bombs from the Internet through his school’s network.

III. Montgomery has made rental car reservations over the Internet in a cybercafé.

(a) I, II, and III.

(b) Neither I, II, nor III.

(d) Just II.

(e) Just III.

9. Under the Can-Spam Act, it is legal to:

(a) Send out advertisements for sexually explicit Web sites.

(b) Send e-mails with false return addresses.

(d) Refuse to unsubscribe recipients.

(e) Send out e-mails with headers that, while technically accurate, are in fact misleading.

Short-Answer Questions

11. Matt Drudge published a report on his Web site (http://www.drudgereport.com) that White House aide Sidney Blumenthal “has a spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up . . . There are court records of Blumenthal’s violence against his wife.” The Drudge Report is an electronic publication focusing on Hollywood and Washington gossip. AOL paid Drudge $3,000 a month to make the Drudge Report available to AOL subscribers. Drudge e-mailed his reports to AOL, which then posted them. Before posting, however, AOL had the right to edit content. Drudge ultimately retracted his allegations against Blumenthal, who sued AOL. He alleged that under the Communications Decency Act of 1996, AOL was a “content provider” because it paid Drudge and edited what he wrote. Do you agree? Putting liability aside, what moral obligation did AOL have to its members? To Blumenthal? Should AOL be liable for content it bought and provided to its members?

Answer: The court was sympathetic to Blumenthal, writing that, if it were starting with a “clean slate” it would find for him. However, the Court continued, Congress made a different policy choice, deciding that an ISP is not liable even if it plays an active or aggressive role in providing content prepared by others. Under the statute, AOL was not a content provider, despite its payments to Drudge and its editorial control. Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F.Supp. 44; 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5606.

13. Nancy Garrity and Joanne Clark worked for John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. On their office computers they regularly received sexually explicit e-mails from friends and from Internet joke sites, which they then sent to coworkers. When a fellow employee complained, Hancock searched their e-mail folders and, finding inappropriate e-mails, fired the two women. The Hancock e-mail policy states: “Messages that are defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening or racially offensive are prohibited. Company management reserves the right to access all e-mail files.” The two employees filed suit against Hancock, alleging that the company had invaded their privacy. How would you rule as judge?

Answer: Although the court acknowledged that the plaintiffs thought their e-mail was private, it held that this expectation was unreasonable. Once the plaintiffs sent messages over an e-mail system that was utilized by the entire company, any reasonable expectation of privacy was lost. Moreover, the two employees could not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in e-mails stored on company computers. Garrity v. Hancock, 2002 U.S. Dist. Lexis 8343 (2002).

15. During the course of 10 months, Joseph Melle sent more than 60 million unsolicited e-mail advertisements to AOL members. What charges could be brought against him?

Answer: Melle was charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act . He agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting him from sending more spam over the AOL network.