At a K-Mart in the great northwest, a customer, Mrs. Smith, checked some curtains which more expensive than she though they should be. She then asked to have a price check. When the price proved to be correct, she asked the clerk, 16 year-old Jessie, to void the sale, as she was going to go back and look at the curtains again. Jessie voided the sale and pushed the items to the side to check-out the next customer. Mrs. Jones left her purse at the check-out stand also. When she came back with her new curtains to be rung up, she asked Jessie what happened to the $20.00 that had been sitting on her purse. When Jessie answered that she had not seen $20.00, Mrs. Jones started to make a scene. The store manager heard the commotion, and came to see what was going on. When he heard what Mrs. Jones had to say, he checked through Jessie's pockets of her smock, finding nothing. Mrs. Jones continued her loud complaining, so the manager closed the cash register, and asked the parties to his office. There, he asked the female assistant manager to accompany Jessie to the women's locker room for the purpose of a strip search. Mrs. Jones insisted on going, and the manager acceded to the request. Jessie went to the locker-room and stripped to her undergarments, and no money was found. Mrs. Jones still complained, but went home. Once at home, she looked in her purse again, and found the $20.00. She then called the store to advise the manager that the $20.00 was found.

However, she was still upset at the attitude of Jessie. She then decided to post an online derogatory comment about Jessie and the K-Mart where Jessie worked on a K-Mart message board soliciting comments. This post made reference to the strip-search of Jessie, contained comments about Jessie's undergarments, and generally trashed the character of Jessie and the K-Mart manager. She even posted a photo of a female in undergarments, indicating that it was a photo of Jessie. The face was obscured. When Jessie went back to work a couple of days later, she was the talk of the store due to the posting.

Jessie was terribly upset by this. Her parents decided to ask an attorney to advise them about the legal options for Jessie. The attorney commenced an investigation, part of which was getting K-Mart to respond. K-Mart indicated that the action the Manager took was contrary to all written and unwritten policies of the Company; hence K-Mart was denying any responsibility. In addition, K-Mart told Jessie that any other concern about the online posting and the strip-search issue must be taken up with the manager personally and with Mrs. Jones. After a review your readings discuss whether K-Mart corporate is correct, or whether they will be responsible for the incident. In addition, address the following:

1. What aspects of your private life are available in the public realm?

2. Are the integration and dissemination of public records on the Internet, such as court records, financial and property records, and even webcams affecting your expectations of privacy?