A federal court recently ruled that website privacy policies aren't binding, because nobody reads them. The implications are far reaching for contract law and the Internet.

The ruling would also allow companies to post any sort of privacy policy on their websites to convince customers to disclose sensitive data, but would not require companies to uphold the privacy policy. The judge argues that since no contract exists, no trial can proceed under contract law, and since the data becomes the property of the airline, invasion of privacy is impossible.