Clinton on privacy and the Internet

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 22:04:03 -0500
From: Andrew Shapiro <ashapiro@interport.net>
To: telstar@wired.com, declan@well.com
Subject: Clinton on privacy

Todd and Declan:

I assume you've both seen this quote about privacy (below) from Clinton's
commencement speech last week.  Declan, you might want to put up on the FC
list -- if you haven't already.

Cheers,
Andrew

***
From: http://www.epic.org/privacy/laws/clinton_speech_5_18_97.html#privacy

              Third, technology should not be used to break down the
              wall of privacy and autonomy free citizens are guaranteed in
a free
              society.  The right to privacy is one of our most cherished
freedoms.
              As society has grown more complex and people have become more
              interconnected in every way, we have had to work even harder to
              respect the privacy, the dignity, the autonomy of each
individual.

                           Today, when marketers can follow every aspect of our
              lives, from the first phone call we make in the morning to
the time
              our security system says we have left the house, to the video
camera
              at the toll booth and the charge slip we have for lunch, we
cannot
              afford to forget this most basic lesson.

                           As the Internet reaches to touch every business
and every
              household and we face the frightening prospect that private
              information -- even medical records -- could be made instantly
              available to the world, we must develop new protections for
privacy in
              the face of new technological reality.  (Applause.)