DISADVANTAGES — CONSUMER/INTERNET — HURTS BUSINESS� 414

DISADVANTAGE: PRIVACY PROTECTION SEVERELY DAMAGES THE NEW ECONOMY�

A. LACK OF USA PRIVACY REGULATION HAS GIVEN USA INTERNET COMPANIES A GLOBAL ADVANTAGE

HAROLD McGRAW III: Financial Times (London), February 12, 1999, SECTION: PERSONAL VIEW; Pg. 18 TITLE: Privacy on the line// acs-EE2001

US companies, my own and others, have enjoyed a significant competitive advantage in e-commerce business over the rest of the world, thanks in large part to an accommodating regulatory approach by the US government. This is particularly true when it comes to issues concerning online privacy, where US organisations have been allowed to self-regulate privacy practices - an approach that is business- and-innovation friendly and that has given all of us an important edge.

This self-regulatory edge, however, could soon be in jeopardy - along with those stratospheric forecasts of e-commerce growth - unless those of us in the private sector manage to convince more of our corporate peers to adopt privacy policies.

B. QUICK ACTION TO PROTECT PRIVACY THREATENS THE E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY

Rebecca Christie, Financial Times (London), July 28, 1999, SECTION: THE AMERICAS; Pg. 06 TITLE: Delay in internet privacy law urged // acs-EE2001

Hasty legislation on internet privacy could choke an emerging e-commerce industry or become technologically obsolete, Robert Pitofsky, Federal Trade Commission chairman, told a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday. He recommended that Congress put the issue on hold until it became clearer whether industry would meet its privacy targets.

C. COLLECTION, STORAGE, AND TRANSMISSION OF DATA HAVE TURBOCHARGED THE AMERICAN ECONOMY

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

Head-spinning advances in electronic collection, storage and transmission of data have created a turbo boost for America's high-speed economy, which is creating more good jobs than can be filled.