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"Perceptions and Misperceptions of Privacy on the Net"
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Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 19:59:39 -0500
To: Digital Commerce Society of Boston <[email protected]>
From: The Old Bear <[email protected]>
Subject: "Perceptions and Misperceptions of Privacy on the Net"
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The George Washington University
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Cyberspace Policy Institute
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Tuesday, November 19, 1996 4-6 p.m.
Room 410 Marvin Center, 21st & H St. NW, Washington, DC
"PERCEPTIONS AND MISPERCEPTIONS OF PRIVACY ON THE NET"
Speaker:
Steven Emmert, Corporate Counsel for Lexis-Nexis
Commentators:
William W. Burrington, Assistant General Counsel, America Online
Deidre Mulligan, Staff Counsel, Center for Democracy and Technology
Privacy norms, regulations, and laws have been developed over the
years, in balance with norms, regulations and laws governing access to
government information and open meetings. The advent of widespread
Internet use has called into question some previously unchallenged uses
of information, reopened discussion on some problems once thought
resolved, and raised new questions which have never been addressed.
In addition to the commercial players involved, individuals, in greater
numbers than at any time in the past, have joined these discussions
about the proper uses of information.
LEXIS-NEXIS recently experienced this increased individual
participation first hand following the release of a commercial product,
P-TRAK. This product, which makes limited information about individuals
available to LEXIS-NEXIS' subscribers (typically law firms, Fortune 1000
corporations, and government agencies including federal law enforcement
agencies) became the centerpiece of an Internet controversy about privacy.
Information and misinformation about P-TRAK was widely disseminated on
the Internet (and still is) and in the mainstream media.
In response to this controversy, the Congress directed the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in consultation with the
Federal Trade Commission, to conduct a study of whether organizations
which are not subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act are engaged in the
business of making sensitive consumer identification information available
to the general public. Senators Bryan, Pressler, and Hollings have
requested "that the FTC conduct a study of possible violations of consumer
privacy rights by companies that operate computer data bases."
As these studies proceed it will be important for all concerned
-- corporations, individuals, the government, law enforcement and
others-- to ensure they fully understand the issues and policies involved
in order to strike the proper balance between the legitimate information
needs of businesses, professionals, individuals, the press, the public,
government and law enforcement, and an individual's right to privacy.
Lessons learned from this experience will be shared. The policy and
legal issues raised will be identified. Implications for the future of
the Internet and for electronic commerce in information will be discussed.
Additional information on this and other seminars is available at
www.cpi.seas.gwu.edu/Activities/Seminars/96-97.html
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Robert Hettinga ([email protected])
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson
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