The right to privacy for online Internet activity is a serious issue in the world today. Some internet users wish to hide their identities while participating in discussions of sensitive topics. Others fulfill fantasies and harmlessly role play under the cover of a false identity in chat rooms, but there are the eternal "bad apples," and on the Internet, they are the people who use anonymous servers as more than a way to avoid responsibility for controversial remarks. Cases of harassment and abuse have become more and more frequent because there are ways to avoid people knowing your true identity. There are also problems with frauds and con artists who elude law enforcement authorities through anonymous mailings and postings.
Nowhere in the United States Constitution does the word “privacy” exist. Rather, the Supreme Court has decided that “privacy” is to be protected by the amendments. It is the essence of the Bill of Rights and so it is a guaranteed right. The Invasion of Privacy is covered under the 4th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. However without a reasonable expectation of privacy, there is no privacy right to protect. Files stored on disk or tape in the home is protected, but the rule becomes less clear when applied to files stored on an Internet access provider's server. Web servers, on the other hand, may be protected by federal law. Some argue that consent of the access provider, however, is all that is required for law enforcement authorities to search and seize any files in the possession of that access provider. Internet service providers may have a lot of information about the users because servers routinely record information about users' e-mail and web browsing habits.
Congress decided to pass a new internet law in the 1990’s and the Federal Trade Commission also proposed legal reform around the same time to improve online privacy. But lawmakers showed deep reservations about trifling with Internet regulation of privacy, expressing fears about hurting online commerce and creating an unenforceable regulatory scheme. Internet crime laws passed, but these criminalized intrusive and destructive behaviors without directly creating privacy rights. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 was passed amid complaints that websites frequently sought too much personal information from young children. The law requires web operators to maintain privacy policies, grants parents powers to control information gleaned from their children by websites, and grants regulatory power to the FTC. This COPPA act protects children in a way that applies to websites and online services that are specifically directed at children under the age of thirteen and to operators of websites where the operators have actual knowledge they are collecting information from children under the age of thirteen. In 2000, the FTC filed its first action under COPPA, against a website called Toysmart. After it declared bankruptcy, Toysmart had attempted to sell the data it had collected selling toys. The purpose of this act is to protect minors under the age of 13. It prevents information to be obtained from young people specifically so that their privacy is protected.