Had the Washington, DC, CityPaper not violated the privacy of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork by publishing a list of his video rentals, Facebook beacon might not have to sweat the possibility of a day in court.

Fortunately for all of us, but not Facebook and Facebook associate Blockbuster, the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) is the law of the land as a result well-justified, bipartisan outrage over the Bork incident.

Last week on his blog, James Grimmelmann, associate professor at the New York Law School, wrote:

Facebook and Blockbuster should hunker down and prepare for the lawsuits. Their recent move to allowing a global opt-out may cut them off from accruing further liability, but there's probably an overhang of damages facing them from their past mistakes.

His analysis there is detailed, includes the well-stated qualifications one would expect of a legal scholar and covers a number of privacy issues which have tended to elude more general debate. A Dec. 13 Computer World article quotes him to somewhat more pointed effect:

"The case against Blockbuster is quite straightforward," said James Grimmelmann, associate professor at the New York Law School. "I'm surprised that there haven't been lawsuits already in terms of Blockbuster. The one against Facebook requires a couple more steps. It's one of those interesting issues" that can be viewed in multiple ways legally.

Computer World also reported:

Blockbuster did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Grimmelmann's assertions. A spokesman for Facebook said the company "does not have a comment here."

Of course not.

Nor are we likely to learn, at least not soon, what Facebook is telling its roughly four score and ten other advertising associates about all of this.

That Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's apology was enough and this is just a belated after-shock? Or perhaps that they respect business partners as much as they respect the privacy of their users?

Whatever increasingly cold comfort is being offered, one survey says they may not be buying it.

There is inevitable peril in a business strategy which is short on respect for both users and business partners. It proceeds in contradiction of basic human drives. Recent study finds that a great many of us have a compelling, inherited sense of fair play, and we act upon it. Enough of us, perhaps, to stop an online juggernaut.