Information Privacy and Internet Company Insolvencies: When a Business Fails, Does Divesture or Bankruptcy Better Protect the Consumer?
Year: 2003
Type: other
Abstract: substantially all of the assets of companies that have opted to close their doors or exit a particular line of business are also increasing.'Of course, the creditors of these companies are desperate to maximize their recoveries.'None of this is particularly surprising.However, a new problem has arisen in the cases of e-commerce companies seeking to liquidate their assets -their privacy promises to users could prevent the sale of customer lists compiled by the now floundering Internet companies.The sale of customer lists is not a new method to increase the capital available to failing companies.6 However, the nature of the contact between consumer and retailer has changed with the advent of e-commerce' Moreover, the manner in which customer lists were compiled in the past and the way they are compiled by Internet companies today differs greatly.8 The terms under which such information is collected has also changed Because of these changes in the interactions between buyers and sellers, all customer lists are not treated equally when a company chooses to their highs .... Bankruptcies of dot-coms are now as commonplace as IPOs once were.");http://www.bankruptcydata.com/default.asp(last visited Sept. 19, 2002) (indicating that public company bankruptcy filings in 2000 were 176, in 2001 were 257, in January 2002 were 17, and in February 2002 were 29).4. See Eleni Chamis, High (and Low) Lights of 2001: Best New Idea: Bid4Assets, WASH.Bus.J., Dec. 28, 2001 (stating that as the "tech landscape has become littered with Internet failures and consolidations, Bid4Assets has been there to pick up the pieces" by selling the assets of failed businesses in online auctions), available at
Author: Farah Z. Usmani
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1586019351