DISADVANTAGES — CONSUMER/INTERNET — KILLS THE INTERNET 427

LINK: GOVERNMENT REGULATION

STATE INTERVENTION IN CYBERSPACE SHOULD BE NARROW

Neil Weinstock Netanel, Arnold, White & Durkee Centennial Professor of Law, University of Texas School of Law, March 2000; California Law Review, "Cyberspace Self-Governance: A Skeptical View from Liberal Democratic Theory," EE2001-hxm lxnx

My critique of the cyberian claim of liberal perfection has highlighted the contradictions between the cyberpopulist, cybersyndicalist, and cyberanarchist visions on the one hand, and the liberal democratic ideals, on the other. My assessment of the cyberian claim for community autonomy has sought to counter the notion that cyberspace self-rule has any special purchase within political liberalism. As I have sought to emphasize, however, the failings of the cyberian claims do not necessarily call for the systematic corrective intervention of the liberal democratic state. Indeed, like other civil associations, virtual community and discursive interaction are generally supportive of the democratic culture upon which the liberal state depends. It is thus in the interest of territorial liberalism that state intervention, at least in the associative and discursive fora of cyberspace (as opposed simply to sites for electronic commerce), be narrowly drawn.

INFORMATION SHARING PROMOTES POWERFUL SOCIETAL NEEDS, AND REGULATION WILL THREATEN THESE BENEFITS

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

Beyond the economic benefits to all of us, responsible information-sharing serves some of society's most critical needs. Reference services help credit card issuers and banks combat identity theft and account fraud, while insurance companies use data-sharing services to identify individuals running fraud schemes that drive up premium costs. Employers may use information databases to check the backgrounds of licensed professionals, such as child care workers, for records of past trouble.

A rush of new government regulations and restrictions will jeopardize the many economic and social benefits that flow from responsible information sharing.