Privacy Petitions and Institutional Legitimacy

This Article argues that a petitions process for privacy concerns arising from new technologies would substantially aid in gauging privacy social norms and legitimating regulation of new technologies. An accessible, transparent petitions process would empower individuals who have privacy concerns by making their proposals for change more visible. Moreover, data accumulated from such a petitions process would provide the requisite information to enable institutions to incorporate social norms into privacy policy development. Hearing and responding to privacy petitions would build trust with the public regarding the role of government and large companies in shaping the modern privacy technical infrastructure.

This Article evaluates three possible institutional avenues for privacy petitioning: (1) state courts, (2) state agencies, and (3) mandatory disclosure of consumer petitions by companies to federal agencies.