Consumer Privacy & the Internet

Consumer Privacy & the Internet             Back to NCPA Debate Home Page

Privacy in the Digital Age (New York Times) ------ Privacy Research on www.forbes.com Forbes magazine is a great resource for high school debate. Each issue features excellent articles on public policy issues and many technology topics, including privacy. ------ Europe Lags Behind U.S. on Web Privacy Wall Street Journal Article on Consumers International Survey Internet users' privacy is better protected in the U.S. than in Europe, despite the raft of privacy regulations that have been approved by the European Commission over the past 5 years. ------ Privacy Plan Likely to Kick Off Debate By Carl S. Kaplan, August 4, 2000 (Cyber Law Journal) A shift in the Clinton administration's privacy policy could mean a rollback of the tight privacy protections that currently apply to Internet communications over cable modems and networks. ------ Public Contradictory on Net Privacy By Tim Race, July 24, 2000 Online, it seems, privacy is in the eye of the beholder. That's why the public debate over electronic privacy can get so confusing. Whose privacy? Protected from whom? ------ Giving Consumers Access to Personal Data By Bob Tedeschi, July 3, 2000 (E-Commerce Report) One online privacy principle has received scant air time recently: giving consumers access to the data collected on them. Still, recent steps within the industry suggest that some companies are heeding the call for access. ------ How Privacy Regulation Will Chill Commerce by Solveig Singleton, December 13, 1999 (Cato Commentary) Will privacy become the regulatory boot in the door of the Internet? New ways of collecting information about consumer transactions sometimes worry consumers. But business is changing to offer consumers reassurance about privacy. ------ The Politics of Privacy June 1, 1998 (Forbes ASAP article) Privacy Advocates want want to limit the use of cookies. But there are many reasonable uses of cookies that could benefit consumers as well as firms. ------- Privacy reform could help online ad firms February 11, 2000 (Forbes article) The online advertising industry is fighting to stop politicians from regulating privacy on the Internet. It may be doing itself a disservice. ------- Privacy advocate urges funds to shun DoubleClick November 24, 1999 (Forbes article) JunkBusters, which blocked Intel's serial number scheme, now wants socially responsible funds to screen stocks for privacy. -------   The Other Online Profiler February 25, 2000 (Forbes article) Advertising network DoubleClick is in a legal mess over its database of invasive online consumer profiles. But another company has quietly collected far more extensive information without anyone seeming to notice. ----- Technology Will Solve Web Privacy Problems by Lawrence Lessig (Wall Street Journal, Wednesday May 31, 2000, page A26.) ----- Privacy: Regulating Data in the Private Sector Listing of Cato Institute studies that analyze proposals to regulate private businesses' use of information about their consumers, assessing their economic impact on small business and consumers, their first amendment implications, and more. ------ DoubleClick's dud February 14, 2000, Forbes While DoubleClick launches a campaign to teach you about privacy on the Internet, the real story is that it is having trouble signing up enough users to make its Abacus acquisition worthwhile. ------- Privacy International, April 5, 2000 (www.privacy.org/pi) Privacy International held the 2000 US Big Brother Awards for the worst privacy invaders in the United States on April 5, 2000 at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2000 Conference in Toronto. Winners were the US Department of Commerce, DoubleClick, the Federal Aviation Adminstration, and TransUnion. ----- "Internet Privacy": An Oxymoron in Progress? February 3, 2000 (Privacy Times) A swirl of recent events only seems to confirm fears that consumers cannot trust their privacy to the Internet. There are many sources of the problem: data-hungry Internet firms bent on exploiting personal information; inattention to security and persistent technological glitches; and a growing underground of hackers who are willing to take advantage of the situation.  ------