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FC: Libertarians rally, a little late, to oppose privacy regs
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 07:36:23 -0400
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38878,00.html Regulating Privacy: At What Cost? by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com) 3:00 a.m. Sep. 19, 2000 PDT WASHINGTON -- Privacy advocates who successfully transformed such previously arcane matters as credit bureau databases and DoubleClick cookies into mainstream concerns are close to winning a truly epic battle. After years of agitating by liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, both Democrats and Republicans are suddenly expressing their support for sweeping new regulations of U.S. businesses. Yet schemes like a federal privacy commission -- suggested this year by a bipartisan duo in Congress -- don't exactly cheer free-market organizations, which have been largely silent in this debate so far. In response to increasingly aggressive bills and shifting public opinion, libertarian groups in Washington and elsewhere have begun to quietly gird themselves for an all-out battle in new and unfamiliar terrain. George Mason University's Mercatus Center will hold a privacy event on Tuesday populated with laissez-faire economists, while the Competitive Financial Privacy, which blasts private-sector regulations. "Why did it take so long? Because there are more of 'them' than there are of us -- advocates of liberty and limited government have too many battlements to defend," says David Boaz, vice president of the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute and other like-minded groups generally oppose government regulation of what information firms can and cannot collect, arguing that consumers should make up their own minds instead. Some libertarians also stress the economic benefits of information-sharing by saying it lowers prices. "What the privacy-regulation advocates just don't get is the benefits of information," Boaz says. "There's a positive value to being offered things that will interest you, and it's hardly something to be feared." [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- FC: Libertarians rally, a little late, to oppose privacy regs Declan McCullagh (Sep 19)