NJ Supreme Court: Subscribers Have Privacy Right In Their Internet Data

In a 7-0 ruling today, the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling and found that Internet service providers must protect user information and a valid subpoena is needed before the providers can disclose private data about subscribers. “We now hold that citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy, protected by Article I, Paragraph 7, of the New Jersey Constitution, in the subscriber information they provide to Internet service providers – just as New Jersey citizens have a privacy interest in their bank records stored by banks and telephone billing records kept by phone companies,” the court ruled. Last year, EPIC joined five groups in filing a "friend of the court" brief to the NJ Supreme Court in New Jersey v. Reid. In their brief, the groups explained, "This case raises far-reaching questions about the scope of privacy protection in the electronic environment," especially because subscriber information "can reveal substantially more about an individual than, for example, the phone numbers she dials."