COMMERCE VS. PRIVACY.

• Author: Singleton, Solveig
• Position: Regulating commercial databases and mailing lists is unnecessary

Who Owns the Rights to Data About Your Life?

"Should private companies be permitted to keep information about their customers' buying habits and share it with other businesses?"

THERE IS growing tension between calls more privacy and the free flow of information. The Onion, Madison, Wis., satirized growing concern over privacy rights in an article entitled "New `Phone Book' Raising Serious Privacy Issues." It described calls for "strict controls" on phone books, quoting a mythical privacy advocate's warning that, with such a directory, "anyone could know your phone number in literally seconds."

The best satire makes a deeper point, and this is no exception. Americans report they are worried about their privacy. The number of people "somewhat concerned" about threats to privacy, either from the government or private businesses, grew from 64% in 1978 to 82% in 1995, according to the Washington Post. Yet, while we want privacy for ourselves, we demand information about others--such as childcare workers, new neighbors, and co-workers. Few people take steps to protect their privacy beyond drawing the blinds at night. We prefer the convenience of credit cards or mail order shopping to cash and the anonymity of malls. Our actions speak louder than the surveys.

However, there are moral and economic issues raised by the ongoing debate about privacy. Do private business and marketing threaten privacy the same way that government databases do? Should private companies be permitted to keep information about their customers' buying habits and share it with other businesses?

A majority of Americans (52%) see government as a greater threat to privacy than private businesses, indicate authors Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau in Privacy on the Line, though 40% regard business as a greater threat. Jim Castelli points out in "How to Handle Personal Information" (American Demographics, March 1996) that "the public's concerns are fueled by a steady supply of articles and television programs about the dire implications of data-driven marketing. `The right to privacy has all but disappeared,' says a typical account, `sacrificed on the altar of customer service and corporate profits.'"

Privacy activists also equate threats to privacy by private-sector businesses and government. Speaking of data collection, consumer advocate Leslie Byrne maintains that "companies have become Big Brother to many. It's more than controlling your life in a sci-fi way; it's selling your life." Big Brother, though, was the icon of a totalitarian police state, not Macy's, Home Depot, or the local bridal shop.

Government databases pose a more serious threat for one fundamental reason: government alone may deploy the police, the military, and the courts. Marketing agencies compile lists mainly to sell people things--a nuisance, but little more than that. By contrast, government databases pose terrible risks. Data collected by the U.S. Census, for example, was used to track down Japanese-Americans during World War II. The government seized their homes and businesses and forced them into resettlement camps.

We can...