NEGATIVE — COUNTERPLAN — FREE MARKET — INDIVIDUALS WILL PROTECT 84

INDIVIDUALS CAN AND WILL PROTECT THEIR OWN PRIVACY IF THEY DESIRE

INDIVIDUALS NEED TO TAKE PERSONAL ACTION TO INCREASE PERSONAL PRIVACY

Fred H. Cate, Brookings Institution, 1997; PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE, E E2001 -mf p p. 105

Individuals, rather than waiting for the government to take action, must accept the responsibility to know and insist on legal rights. For example, in the United States, any citizen may demand from the government a copy of all information, other than that within one of the Freedom of Information Act's nine enumerated exemptions, that the government possesses about her. Taking advantage of this right is an effective step toward discovering and correcting inaccurate or misleading information. Similarly, every person has a legal right to the information about her held by a credit reporting agency. If she has been denied credit or other benefits on the basis of a credit report, there is no charge for the access. 10 Taking advantage of that opportunity, reviewing the data carefully, and disputing incorrect or outdated information are vital ways to protect one's information privacy.

INDIVIDUALS NEED TO TAKE PERSONAL ACTION TO INCREASE PERSONAL PRIVACY

Fred H. Cate, Brookings Institution, 1997; PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE, EE2001-mfp p. 104

Individual responsibility always requires ascertaining why data are being collected and how the collector intends to control the use, dissemination, and retention of personal information. This knowledge is exceptionally important in the context of commercial services, as many companies now promote their privacy policies for competitive purposes. If one credit card company, for example, does not offer adequate protection for personal information, others almost certainly will. If enough consumers demand better privacy protection and back up that demand, if necessary, by withdrawing their patronage, companies are certain to respond. In fact, when competitive markets exist, consumer inquiries about, and response to, corporate privacy policies are an excellent measure of how much that society really values privacy.

FREE MARKET APPROACH TO PRIVACY ALLOWS INDIVIDUALS TO CHOOSE

Neil Munro, The National Journal, MARCH 4, 2000 SECTION: CONGRESS; Pg. 702; TITLE: A Little Privacy, Please // acs-VT2001

At the same time, many other Republicans, such as Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, champion a free-market approach: They say consumers are free to choose to buy from companies or Internet vendors according to whatever mix of quality, price, and privacy commitments they offer.

PRIVACY ASSERTIVENESS IS RISING AND SUPPORTS INDIVIDUAL, NOT GOVERNMENT, ACTION

BOB TRIGAUX, St. Petersburg Times, February 07, 1999, SECTION: BUSINESS; COLUMN; Pg. 1H TITLE: Consumers wake up to privacy intrusions // acs-EE2001

Privacy ain't what it used to be.

That show of backbone is encouraging to Westin. "There's a rising privacy assertiveness by American consumers," he says.

It's about time. Most consumers are not privacy nuts. They understand companies gather personal information to make their products more relevant to buyers. In the survey, 69 percent say they still prefer voluntary measures over government intervention to ensure consumer privacy protection.

PEOPLE WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO STAY OUT OF TRYING TO PATROL THE INTERNET

Tom Regan, Staff writer, The Christian Science Monitor, October 14, 1999, SECTION: FEATURES; IDEAS; Pg. 15 TITLE: Can Anyone Tame the Wild, Wild Web? // acs-EE2001

But who will patrol the Web - a space that both does and doesn't exist? The government would seem to be the natural answer. While there are varying degrees of faith in the government's ability to protect the citizenry - depending on where you live in the world, or even where you live in the US - most people are content to cede the need to provide this protection in the physical world to the various representatives of law and order. But hold on there, partner - that's not as easy as it looks in the virtual world. Lots of people don't want the government anywhere near the Web for all kinds of reasons, most related to privacy. To paraphrase a current, too-often-seen ad on TV, most people don't want the government snooping around their e-mail boxes.

THE FIRST STEP TO PROTECTING PRIVACY IS BECOMING AWARE OF AND ASSERTING YOUR OWN RIGHT TO PRIVACY

Nadine Strossen, law professor at New York Law School AND president of the American Civil Liberties Union, PANEL DISCUSSION: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO PRIVACY RIGHTS, New York Law School Law Review , 1999, 43 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 195, EE2001-JGM, P.204

The first essential strategy, as I have already indicated, is public education about the importance of privacy and the lack of legal protection for it. A former Harvard Law School professor, Zechariah Chafee, made this observation about the First Amendment. He said, in the long run, in this country people will have as much freedom of speech as they want. n42 That observation is certainly true for every right, not only freedom of speech. It is particularly true for privacy rights though, because of the concept of "reasonable expectations" of privacy, which the Supreme Court first set out as the benchmark for determining which privacy rights would be protected under the Fourth Amendment. n43 But that concept subsequently has been woven into a number of the other privacy areas that I have addressed. If the public does not demand privacy or expect privacy in particular contexts, then the public is not going to have such privacy. Therefore, those of us who are privacy buffs have to ratchet up public concern on this issue.