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Data Access and Privacy Issues on Internet Clash Kenneth Brown For all of the internet's convenience, the issue of privacy has become a nemesis for advocates of the new technology. It is estimated that there are more than 3,000 bills in legislatures around the country concerning Internet privacy. Many predict privacy concerns and the Net are on an inevitable collision course with strict governance and legislation. Although all parties agree on the need for privacy on the Internet, the difficulty rests in how to effectively regulate the Internet to achieve privacy. Unfortunately, differences among experts about how to regulate the Internet are as great as the concern about privacy. Privacy itself is particularly complicated in the United States because, historically, it is not referenced or mentioned in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or other amendments. Privacy and the right to privacy are loosely defined. In response to the demand for government involvement, on March 15, Reps. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark, and James Moran, D-Va., introduced a bill for a federal privacy commission that would decide how new privacy regulations should apply to corporations that collect customer information on the Net. Current legislation in Congress focuses upon different aspects of Internet privacy. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., John Kerry, D-Mass., Ernest Rollings, D-S.C., Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., all have introduced Internet privacy bills. However, opponents of each bill disagree over such issues as Federal Trade Commission enforcement powers and privacy policy notification measures. While consensus is that an Internet privacy bill will be passed, the intense opposition to data collection on the Internet coupled with the concerns over the policing of the Net signal perpetual debate over Internet privacy in Congress. Meanwhile, disagreement on privacy measures also has brewed between the Justice Department and Congress. Discussing security on the Internet, Attorney General Janet Reno hinted that the FBI and other government agencies needed to have a way to penetrate anonymity and trace criminals who hide their identities online - a need that also fueled widespread alarm among privacy advocacy groups. House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, commented: ''The administration is full of double talk on Internet privacy.. . While the president lectures the IT industry about the importance of privacy to consumers, his administration wants to let 'Big Brother' track our every move on the Web." Immediately, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were put under siege by privacy advocates. While the privacy debate rages across the country, the concerns have impacted consumer use of the Internet. A recent study confirmed that the perception of lost privacy on the Internet dramatically slows electronic commerce. Jupiter Communications, a leading Internet and e-commerce research clearinghouse, noted in a June 1999 report, "Proactive Online Privacy: Scripting an Informed Dialogue to Allay Consumers' Fears," that analysts predicted an $18 billion revenue drop in consumer e-commerce transactions because of privacy concerns. Because an information society depends upon perpetual data collection, personal privacy, anonymity and protection always will be of concern. An information society's members - and users - will inevitably make the necessary adjustments to work together. Industry leaders at hundreds of companies including Amazon.com, eBay and America Online are independently urging hundreds of e-commerce companies to take the initiative to ensure that Internet firms establish and promote the adoption and implementation of rigorous voluntary privacy policies. They also ask e-commerce ventures to urge Internet surfers themselves to scrutinize the privacy policies of the Web sites they visit of conduct business through. Like all new technologies - the light bulb, the automobile and even fire- once studied and understood; they become reasonably safe to use. All new technology must go through its cycle of public debate over consumer safeguards. In time, the debate on the Internet will move from privacy to concerns about new technologies - and we will be forced to rethink its purpose and its use. Meanwhile, the privacy debate should be discussion, not panic. Regulators, courts, the private sector and consumers must focus on the Internet era's rewards to create reasonable, cost-benefit mechanisms to handle privacy concerns.
Kenneth Brown is president of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a think tank in Arlington, Va.
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