NEGATIVE — COUNTERPLAN — FREE MARKET — INDIVIDUALS WILL PROTECT 89

INDIVIDUAL ACTION IN A FREE MARKET IS THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT PRIVACY

PERSONAL PRIVACY IS BEST PROTECTED BY INDIVIDUALS USING THE MARKET, NOT BY GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS

The Detroit News, March 12, 1999, SECTION: Editorial; Pg. Pg. A12 TITLE: Privacy.com Web // acs-EE2001

Ultimately, individuals are best equipped to protect whatever degree of privacy they desire. Americans are entirely free to refrain from any transaction that could jeopardize confidentiality. Except, of course, when it comes to the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, the Social Security Administration, the Census Bureau. ...

Our view

Personal privacy is best protected by individuals using products offered on the market.

VOLUNTARY PRIVACY PROTECTION WILL UTILIZE DIRECT EXPERIENCE AND MARKET FORCES TO SUCCEED

Leslie Miller; Elizabeth Weise USA TODAY, March 31, 1999, SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 4D TITLE: Keeping 'pry' out of the privacy debate New tools help consumers protect personal data from an encroaching Web // acs-EE2001

"Our sense is that most infomediaries will not say to a customer, 'Give us all the information about you up front,' " he says. Instead, they'll start with one piece "and demonstrate that they can provide you with value." Gradually, as consumers offer more information, "they'll learn more about you and be more helpful."

If a site doesn't prove itself quickly, it won't be in business long, Hagel adds -- the competition is just a click away.

PROTECTING PRIVACY IS THE JOB OF INDIVIDUALS NOT THE GOVERNMENT

Charles Sykes, Senior Fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Institute, THE END OF PRIVACY, 1999, EE2001-JGM, p.257

The reclamation of privacy does not, however, begin with the courts, politicians, or even celebrities. Instead, its beginnings are more modest, a single cloud on the distant horizon. The privacy revolution will ultimately be decided by the attitudes of' individuals, reflected in our general culture. Until individuals, as citizens and consumers, take privacy more seriously in their daily lives, there is un likely to be the critical mass necessary for change. This not only means tak ing practical steps to protect our own privacy (by not giving out our Social Security numbers or refusing to do business with companies that market our names), but also rejecting the assumption that there is something wrong with keeping our private lives private. Out- attitude toward the cul ture of relentless self-exposure will inevitably shape the debate over what should be kept private and what opened tip for public scrutiny. The key to the revolutions will be our willingness to confront the culture of exposure by recognizing that there are some things that others (including the pub lic) not only do not have the right to know, but which it is right that they not know. As long as we measure "sincerity" by our willingness to engage in conspicuous emotionalism, as long as we applaud acts of exhibitionism as signs of mental health, as long as we tolerate the ratcheting down of me dia standards and devour the sordid details of other people's failings, it is unlikely our society will grow more respectful of privacy.

Indeed, a measure of the recovery of privacy will be the day when we feel comfortable saying "It's none of your business," without hesitation, explanation, or apology to the busybodies intent oil snooping into our lives.