NEGATIVE — COUNTERPLAN — FREE MARKET 78

FREE MARKET WILL BEST PROTECT PRIVACY

REAL BOTTOM-UP SELF-REGULATION IS THE ANSWER FOR PROTCTING PRIVACY

But, by contrast, self-regulation built from the bottom up, however, can be relied on to enhance consumer choice when there is a real demand for the reassurance it provides--proved by consumer actions online, not by surveys. A prime example is kosher food labels. Not every company offers a kosher rating, but for those consumers who seek the ratings out, there's an extraordinary range to choose from.

In the data collection area, one characteristic of demands made on e-commerce merchants respecting privacy "self-regulation" has been that the goals of the regulation are assumed to be known. Regulators have insisted that a system of self-regulation must ensure that customers have notice of how their data is being used, that they have a choice about whether it is not be collected or not, and so on.

In the real world, however, no one really knows what state of affairs "ought" to obtain with respect to privacy. The question of when human beings will need to reveal information to gain trust, will be willing to offer trust without information, and will need to respect confidentiality to gain trust is a bafflingly complex question.

SELF-REGULATING SYSTEMS WILL PROTECT PRIVACY OF E-COMMERCE

Purchasing Magazine, July 15, 1999; Pg. 7 TITLE: Expect electronic commerce service providers to create self-regulating rules to protect user privacy // acs-VT2001

Expect electronic commerce service providers to create self-regulating rules to protect user privacy. Firms now realize that e-commerce won't truly take off until buyers are convinced their privacy is protected. E-commerce providers will head off government regulation with their own standards and rules.