The Establishment of a U.S. Federal Data Protection Agency to Define and Regulate Internet Privacy and its Impact on U.S.-China Relations: Marco Polo Where are You?

Authors

Omar Saleem, Florida A&M University College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2000

Abstract

Marco Polo's desire to explore new worlds and exchange both ideas and goods should be the impetus behind the Internet. The Internet is the global economic network of the new millennium. This Article first discusses the factors that have caused both the reevaluation of Western notions of privacy, and consideration of the establishment of a Federal Data Protections Agency. Next, the article discusses the EU's approach to regulating Internet privacy. This section is followed by a discussion of why the U.S. and EU approaches to Internet privacy regulation must be implemented from a global, or MarcoPolo-like perspective. The article then discusses how the premature establishment of a Federal Data Protection Agency to regulate Internet privacy may hamper U.S.-China relations. In conclusion, I articulate the particular concerns of regulating Internet privacy and demonstrate how the U.S.-China dispute about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") will resurface around online privacy if the U.S. engages in unilateral development of online privacy rules.

Recommended Citation

Omar Saleem, The Establishment of a U.S. Federal Data Protection Agency to Define and Regulate Internet Privacy and its Impact on U.S.-China Relations: Marco Polo Where are You?, 19 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 169 (2000)