Author(s)
Robert W. Hahn and Anne Layne-Farrar
Source
AEI-Brookings Joint Center Working Paper No. 01-14, 2001
Summary
This paper asks if legislators should pass online privacy legislation.
Policy Relevance
The authors caution that a broad approach to regulating how online businesses use consumer information could hurt technology and growth, with few gains.
Main Points
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The authors favor evaluating the need for privacy regulation online on a case by case basis, considering the costs to privacy and benefits to consumers.
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The European Union’s Data Protection Directive Network regulates consumer information across the board, and slows the growth of new technology and business methods like outsourcing.
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Policymakers should
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Consider legislative proposals’ economic effects for dynamic technology.
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Target laws to specific concerns.
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Treat online and offline businesses the same.
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Recognize that businesses have reasons to provide suitable online privacy notices without regulation.
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Be very cautious about requiring opt-in, the rule that consumers must explicitly agree to a site’s information use or sharing.
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Give consumers a right to access their information, which would have few benefits and add many costs.
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Limit lawsuits and other enforcement mechanisms.