NEGATIVE — COUNTERPLAN — FREE MARKET 82

SOLVENCY — INTERNET BUSINESSES ARE MOVING TO PROTECT PRIVACY BECAUSE OF MARKET FORCES

INTERNET BUSINESSES ARE MOVING RAPIDLY ON THEIR OWN TO PROTECT PRIVACY

Sonia Arrison, director of the Center for Freedom and Technology at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, The San Diego Union-Tribune December 15, 1999, SECTION: OPINION Pg. B-7: TITLE: UNCLE SNOOPY; Government may not be best in guarding consumer privacy // acs-EE2001

There are many other self-regulatory bodies currently moving to address consumer concerns, and by all accounts their cumulative efforts work. Indeed, businesses that utilize the Internet are moving rapidly to provide consumers with greater privacy information. A recent Georgetown University survey of popular Web sites found that 66 percent posted a privacy policy for consumers, up from only 14 percent in a federal study the year before.

BECAUSE HOW INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED IS A COMPLEX ETHICAL DECISION, REAL SELF-REGULATION WILL NOT YIELD ONE STANDARD

This leads us to confront the possibility that comprehensive self-regulation on privacy will not take the marketplace by storm, just as web site rating has not taken the Web by storm. Unlike UL ratings, questions about the content of speech--whether it is offensive or not respectful of privacy--are not life-or-death safety questions that invoke in all insurers a similar eagerness to avoid liability. Rather, questions about how much one cares about confidentiality or offensiveness are complex ethical preferences. Thus a market-based system of "self-regulation" is unlikely to look much like the UL system, where one standard is dominant. This suggests that both in the privacy context and the free speech context there will be many competing standards set by different third parties.

BUSINESS'S ARE STARTING TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE IF INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY

Ann Cavoukian, Ph. D, Info. and Privacy Commission in Ontario, and Don Tapscott, Alliance for Converging Technologies, 1997; WHO KNOWS, EE 2001 -mf p p. 180

Signs of privacy in the business community are also beginning to appear in North America. Businesses are paying more attention to the need for privacy in their day-to-day practices. Evidence is found in the growing number of voluntary industry codes of conduct for privacy. A wide range of sectors, from banking and insurance to direct marketing and telecommunications, have written their own privacy codes in an effort to fend off legislation and nurture a much-needed degree of confidence among their customers. For the most part, these industry codes have been modeled on the OECD's Code of Fair Information Practices, building in basic protections regarding limited collection, notification of intended uses, consent for secondary uses, and the right of access to one's file and correction of errors. Industry codes have the advantage of being tailor-made to the particular circumstances of one sector, allowing for greater flexibility in applying information practices. It is also more likely that sector-specific protections will suit the needs of the customers as well as the particular regulatory environment in which the industry must operate.

CONSUMER PRESSURE IS THE BEST FORCE TO PROTECT PRIVACY

Sonia Arrison, director of the Center for Freedom and Technology at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, The San Diego Union-Tribune December 15, 1999, SECTION: OPINION Pg. B-7: TITLE: UNCLE SNOOPY; Government may not be best in guarding consumer privacy // acs-EE2001

The greatest motivator for businesses and industries to address consumer privacy concerns in a meaningful way is the power wielded by consumers, not government regulators. Consumer-driven self-regulation is the best way to protect America's prosperity in a global economy that brings dramatic change - - through electronic data transmissions -- literally by the minute.

INTERNET OPERATORS WILL COMPETE BASED ON PROTECTION OF PRIVACY

John Schwartz, Washington Post Staff Writer, Washington Post December 17, 1999, SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. E04 TITLE: Internet Privacy Eroding, Study Says; Top 100 Web Shopping Sites Checked // acs-EE2001

Noting how high consumers consistently rank privacy among their concerns about the online world, Medine said that privacy policy presents a market opportunity for online retailers: "We'll start seeing some competition for who has the best privacy policy," he predicted.

INAPPROPRIATE INFORMATION SHARING BACKFIRES ON COMPANIES

Beth Karlin, Insurance Networking, March 1999: Pg. 24 TITLE: The Struggle Over Privacy: Whose Life Is It Anyway? // acs-VT2001

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp., for example, recently bowed to consumer protests, and changed plans to embed and switch on an identifying signature in its next generation of Pentium II computer chips. That development would have allowed companies to collect detailed profiles of online consumers, which could be resold.

EPIC's Rotenberg says that Intel's decision to derail the plan means privacy groups have "won Round 1." But, he says, it's "a temporary fix."

Similar clashes could take place in the insurance industry. For example, consumers may protest if certain information -- such as the purchase of prenatal vitamins -- is shared with insurance companies, which may solicit the consumer for additional life insurance coverage.