There are legal protections against invading privacy in various ways such as intrusion by wrongfully using eavesdropping devices, publicizing private matters, publicizing in a false light, or appropriating a person's name or likeness for commercial purposes. The right to privacy can also be waived or relinquished in various ways such as consent, newsworthiness, and constitutional privilege. The privacy area of intrusion has generated a significant amount of concern within the media in defending a number of high profile cases in the 1990s. Privacy is an area of growing concern for the media as it confronts First Amendment free press issues. In many cases, individual privacy is being balanced against the rights of a free press.
Few laws limit what the private sector can do with information collected in cyberspace.
Unlike Europe, the United States has no omnibus bill covering the private sector's processing of personal information. There is a patchwork of laws regulating different types of information. There are numerous statutes covering consumer credit, education, cable programming, electronic communications, videotape rentals, motor vehicle records, and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. However, in toto, information collectors can largely do what they want with most information collected in cyberspace. Commercial sites use this information to develop profiles of individual consumers to sell more effectively.