Too Many Open Windows? Exploring the Privacy Implications of Pop-Up Ads

: It is all but impossible these days to traverse the World Wide Web without encountering a smorgasbord of online advertisements. One form of internet advertising that has attracted particular notoriety and spawned considerable controversy is the pop-up. Typically resembling a small electronic billboard containing a link to an advertiser’s corporate web site, a pop-up ad may be affiliated with the web page. Conversely, the pop-up may have no relationship with the web page, other than appearing at the same time that a user accesses the page. This second category of pop-ups is enabled by software that a user downloads on his computer, often in exchange for other software that the user wants for his personal use. Once downloaded, this software, nown as “adware” or, more derisively, “spyware,” interacts with the user’s internet browser and triggers a pop-up to appear in response to existing data on the browser or key terms that the user enters. Pop-up ads, and the opposition they engender, raise new doubts about the sanctity of privacy in the internet age. This paper seeks to address whether these controversial ad placement practices constitute protected speech under the United States’ First Amendment or whether they unlawfully invade the privacy of individual internet users who frequent popular web sites. Underlying the concerns surrounding pop-ups is the broader public policy issue of how the internet threatens the privacy of individuals and corporate entities by calling into question customary, “real-world” conceptions of what constitutes private or privileged space. As this paper purports to show, it is all too easy for constitutional violations to occur if real-world notions of privacy are trampled online in the private sector. = = = = Résumé: Il est de nos jours à vrai dire impossible de traverser le World Wide Web sans se heurter à tout un assortiment de publicités en ligne. Une forme de publicité sur Internet particulièrement bien connue, qui soulève une grande controverse, est la fenêtre en incrustation. Cette fenêtre, qui typiquement ressemble à un petit tableau d’affichage électronique, comporte un lien vers le site Web de l’entreprise qui fait la publicité. La fenêtre en incrustation peut être associée ou non à une page Web. Si elle ne l’est pas, la fenêtre appara t simplement au moment où l’utilisateur à accès à une page. Cette seconde catégorie de fenêtre en incrustation est activée par un logiciel que l’utilisateur télécharge sur son ordinateur, souvent en échange d’un autre logiciel qu’il ou elle veut utiliser personnellement. Une fois téléch