COLUMBIA UNDERGRADUATE LAW REVIEW
Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in an IP Address: The Tor Browser and Other Anonymization Measures: Jonathan A. Goohs Jr. | U.S. Naval Academy Edited by: Kiran Dzur, Christopher Hudson, Chloe Lowell, Carson Munn, Jay Bowling, Danielle Dorfman, Shaurir Ramanujan Abstract
This article aims to answer whether there is a reasonable legal expectation of privacy in a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, specifically when that user is using anonymization measures that attempt to mask their IP address. The claim that there should be a reasonable legal expectation of privacy if the user is employing proper anonymization techniques such as the Tor Browser, VPNs, TAILS, and Qubes-Whonix is analyzed. These anonymization measures are discussed in detail and compared on effectiveness for users who would like to maintain a private posture when surfing the web. This piece investigates the difference between the legal expectation of privacy in a user’s IP address in disguised/not disguised scenarios. Major case law studies support the claim that there should be further consideration into the privacy of a user’s metadata and whether or not sharing that metadata generated by online activities is presumed as voluntarily given up from a legal perspective. These elements are analyzed in detail through the use of legal case studies and examples of online anonymization measures to conclude whether a legal expectation of privacy exists in a user’s IP address. In applying these case studies, the paper will provide opinions on how to increase digital privacy rights for the user and discuss court decisions and resulting implications on the Fourth Amendment landscape. The piece concludes with a further research section, which shines a light on some emerging topics surrounding the legality of privacy in the digital age.
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