National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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ENGAGING PRIVACY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A DIGITAL AGE

James Waldo, Herbert S. Lin, and Lynette I. Millett, Editors

Committee on Privacy in the Information Age

Computer Science and Telecommunications Board

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.


Support for this project was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Sponsor Award No. P0081389; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sponsor Award No. 2001-3-21; the AT&T Foundation; and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Sponsor Award No. B 7415. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Engaging privacy and information technology in a digital age / James Waldo, Herbert S. Lin, and Lynette I. Millett, editors.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-309-10392-3 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-0-309-66732-6 (pdf) 1. Data protection. 2. Privacy, Right of—United States. I. Waldo, James. II. Lin, Herbert. III. Millett, Lynette I.

QA76.9.A25E5425 2007

005.8--dc22

2007014433

Copies of this report are available from the

National Academies Press,

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Copyright 2007 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine


The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.


The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.


The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.


The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Wm. A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.


www.national-academies.org

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COMMITTEE ON PRIVACY IN THE INFORMATION AGE

WILLIAM H. WEBSTER,

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy,

Chair

JAMES WALDO,

Sun Microsystems,

Vice Chair

JULIE E. COHEN,

Georgetown University

ROBERT W. CRANDALL,

Brookings Institution (resigned April 2006)

OSCAR GANDY, JR.,

University of Pennsylvania

JAMES HORNING,

Network Associates Laboratories

GARY KING,

Harvard University

LIN E. KNAPP, Independent Consultant,

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

BRENT LOWENSOHN, Independent Consultant,

Encino, California

GARY T. MARX,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus)

HELEN NISSENBAUM,

New York University

ROBERT M. O’NEIL,

University of Virginia

JANEY PLACE,

Digital Thinking

RONALD L. RIVEST,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TERESA SCHWARTZ,

George Washington University

LLOYD N. CUTLER, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr LLP, served as co-chair until his passing in May 2005.

Staff

HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Scientist

LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Staff Officer

KRISTEN BATCH, Associate Program Officer

JENNIFER M. BISHOP, Program Associate

DAVID PADGHAM, Associate Program Officer

JANICE M. SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD

JOSEPH F. TRAUB,

Columbia University,

Chair

ERIC BENHAMOU,

3Com Corporation

WILLIAM DALLY,

Stanford University

MARK E. DEAN,

IBM Systems Group

DAVID DEWITT,

University of Wisconsin-Madison

DEBORAH L. ESTRIN,

University of California, Los Angeles

JOAN FEIGENBAUM,

Yale University

KEVIN KAHN,

Intel Corporation

JAMES KAJIYA,

Microsoft Corporation

MICHAEL KATZ,

University of California, Berkeley

RANDY KATZ,

University of California, Berkeley

SARA KIESLER,

Carnegie Mellon University

TERESA H. MENG,

Stanford University

TOM M. MITCHELL,

Carnegie Mellon University

FRED B. SCHNEIDER,

Cornell University

WILLIAM STEAD,

Vanderbilt University

ANDREW VITERBI,

Viterbi Group, LLC

JEANNETTE M. WING,

Carnegie Mellon University

JON EISENBERG, Director

KRISTEN BATCH, Associate Program Officer

RENEE HAWKINS, Financial Associate

MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant

HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Scientist

LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Officer

DAVID PADGHAM, Associate Program Officer

JANICE M. SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant

TED SCHMITT, Program Officer

BRANDYE WILLIAMS, Office Assistant

JOAN WINSTON, Program Officer

For more information on CSTB, see its Web site at http://www.cstb.org, write to CSTB, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001, call (202) 334-2605, or e-mail the CSTB at cstb@nas.edu.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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Preface

Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly unbounded options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries; online practices of businesses and government agencies present new ways to compromise privacy; and e-commerce and technologies that permit individuals to find personal information about each other only begin to hint at the possibilities.

The literature on privacy is extensive, and yet much of the work that has been done on privacy, and notably privacy in a context of pervasive information technology, has come from groups with a single point of view (e.g., civil liberties advocates, trade associations) and/or a mission that is associated with a point of view (e.g., regulatory agencies) or a slice of the problem (e.g., privacy in a single context such as health care).

Many of the groups that have looked at privacy have tended to be singular in their expertise. Advocacy groups are typically staffed by lawyers, and scholarship activities within universities are conducted largely from the perspective of individual departments such as sociology, political science, or law. Business/management experts address demand for personal information (typically for marketing or e-commerce). Although a few economists have also examined privacy questions (mostly from the standpoint of marketable rights in privacy), the economics-oriented privacy literature is significantly less extensive than the literature on intellectual property or equitable access. In an area such as privacy, approaches from any single discipline are unlikely to “solve” the problem, making it

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important to assess privacy in a manner that accounts for the implications of technology, law, economics, business, social science, and ethics.

Against this backdrop, the National Research Council believed that the time was ripe for a deep, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary examination of privacy in the information age: How are the threats to privacy evolving, how can privacy be protected, and how can society balance the interests of individuals, businesses, and government in ways that promote privacy reasonably and effectively?

A variety of conversations in late 2000 with privacy advocates in nonprofit organizations, and with private foundation officials about what their organizations have not been supporting, and ongoing conversations with computer scientists and other analysts who focus on information technology trends indicated a dearth of analytical work on the subject of online privacy that incorporated expertise about key technologies together with other kinds of expertise. Without adequate technical expertise, information technology tends to be treated as a black box that has impacts on society; with such expertise, there can be a more realistic exploration of interactions among technical and nontechnical factors and of design and implementation alternatives, some of which can avoid or diminish adverse impacts.

For these reasons, the National Research Council established the Committee on Privacy in the Information Age. The committee’s analytical charge had several elements (see Chapter 1). The committee was to survey and analyze the causes for concern—risks to personal information associated with new technologies (primarily information technologies, but from time to time biotechnologies as appropriate) and their interaction with nontechnology-based risks, the incidence of actual problems relative to the potential for problems, and trends in technology and practice that will influence impacts on privacy. Further, the charge called for these analyses to take into account changes in technology; business, government, and other organizational demand for and supply of personal information; and the increasing capabilities for individuals to collect and use, as well as disseminate, personal information. Although certain areas (e.g., health and national security) were singled out for special attention, the goal was to paint a big picture that at least sketched the contours of the full set of interactions and tradeoffs.

The charge is clearly a very broad one. Thus, the committee chose to focus its primary efforts on fundamental concepts of privacy, the laws surrounding privacy, the tradeoffs in a number of societally important areas, and the impact of technology on conceptions of privacy.

To what end does the committee offer such a consideration of privacy in the 21st century? This report does not present a definitive solution to any of the privacy challenges confronting society today. It does not pro-

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
×

vide a thorough and settled definition of privacy. And it does not evaluate specific policies or technologies as “good” or “bad.”

Rather, its primary purpose is to provide ways to think about privacy, its relationship to other values, and related tradeoffs. It emphasizes the need to understand context when evaluating the privacy impact of a given situation or technology. It provides an in-depth look at ongoing information technology trends as related to privacy concerns. By doing so, the committee hopes that the report will contribute to a better understanding of the many issues that play a part in privacy and contribute to the analysis of issues involving privacy.

In creating policies that address the demands of a rapidly changing society, we must be attuned to the interdependencies of complex systems. In particular, this must involve trying to avoid the unwitting creation of undesirable unintended consequences. We may decide to tolerate erosion on one side of a continuum—privacy versus security, for example. Under appropriate conditions the searching of travelers’ bags and the use of behavioral profiles for additional examination are understandable. But with this comes a shift in the continuum of given types of privacy.

Perhaps most importantly, the report seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions we take, the policies we pass, the expectations we change. In creating policies that address the demands of a rapidly changing society, we must be attuned to the interdependencies of complex systems—and whatever policy choices a society favors, the choices should be made consciously, with an understanding of their possible consequences.

We may decide to tolerate erosion on one side of an issue—privacy versus security, for example. We may decide it makes sense to allow security personnel to open our bags, to carry a “trusted traveler” card, to “profile” people for additional examination. But with such actions come a change in the nature and the scope of privacy that people can expect. New policies may create a more desirable balance, but they should not create unanticipated surprises.

To pursue its work, the National Research Council constituted a committee of 16 people with a broad range of expertise, including senior individuals with backgrounds in information technology, business, government, and other institutional uses of personal information; consumer protection; liability; economics; and privacy law and policy. From 2002 to 2003, the committee held five meetings, most of which were intended to enable the committee to explore a wide range of different points of view. For example, briefings and/or other inputs were obtained from government officials at all levels, authorities on international law and practice relating to policy, social scientists and philosophers concerned with personal data collection, experts on privacy-enhancing technologies, business

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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representatives concerned with the gathering and uses of personal data, consumer advocates, and researchers who use personal data. Several papers were commissioned and received.

As the committee undertook its analysis, it was struck by the extraordinary complexity associated with the subject of privacy. Most committee members understood that the notion of privacy is fraught with multiple meanings, interpretations, and value judgments. But nearly every thread of analysis leads to other questions and issues that also cry out for additional analysis—one might even regard the subject as fractal, where each level of analysis requires another equally complex level of analysis to explore the issues that the previous level raises. Realistically, the analysis must be cut off at some point, if nothing else because of resource constraints. But the committee hopes that this report suffices to paint a representative and reasonably comprehensive picture of informational privacy, even if some interesting threads had to be arbitrarily limited.

This study has been unusually challenging, both because of the nature of the subject matter and because the events that occurred during the time the report was being researched and written often seemed to be overtaking the work itself. The temptation to change the work of the committee in reaction to some news story or revelation of a pressing privacy concern was constant and powerful; our hope is that the work presented here will last longer than the concerns generated by any of those particular events.

The very importance of the subject matter increases the difficulty of approaching the issues in a calm and dispassionate manner. Many members of the committee came to the process with well-developed convictions, and it was interesting to see these convictions soften, alter, and become more nuanced as the complexities of the subject became apparent. It is our hope that readers of this report will find that the subject of privacy in our information-rich age is more subtle and complex than they had thought, and that solutions to the problems, while not impossible, are far from obvious.

The committee was highly diverse. This diversity reflects the complexity of the subject, which required representation not just from the information sciences but also from policy makers, the law, business, and the social sciences and humanities. Such diversity also means that the members of the committee came to the problem with different presuppositions, vocabularies, and ways of thinking about the problems surrounding privacy in our increasingly interconnected world. It is a testament to these members that they took the time and effort to learn from each other and from the many people who took the time to brief the committee. It is easy in such situations for the committee to decompose into smaller tribes of like-thinking members who do not listen to those outside their tribe; what

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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in fact happened was that each group learned from the others. The collegial atmosphere that resulted strengthened the overall report by ensuring that many different viewpoints were represented and included.

Much of this collegial atmosphere was the result of the work of the staff of the National Research Council who guided this report. Lynette Millett started the study and has been invaluable through the entire process. Herb Lin injected the energy needed to move from first to final draft, asking all of the questions that needed to be asked and helping us to craft recommendations and findings that are the real reason for the report. The committee could not have reached this point without them.

Special thanks are due to others on the CSTB staff as well. Marjory Blumenthal, CSTB’s former director, was pivotal in framing the project and making it happen. Janice Sabuda provided stalwart administrative and logistical support throughout the project. David Padgham and Kristen Batch provided valuable research support and assistance.

Outside the NRC, many people contributed to this study and report. The committee took inputs from many individuals in plenary sessions, including both scheduled briefers and individuals who attended and participated in discussions. The committee also conducted several site visits and informational interviews and commissioned several papers. The committee is indebted to all of those who shared their ideas, time, and facilities. The committee thanks the following individuals for their inputs and assistance at various stages during the project: Anita Allen-Castellitto, Kevin Ashton, Bruce Berkowitz, Jerry Bogart, Bill Braithwaite, Anne Brown, David Brown, Bruce Budowle, Lee Bygrave, Michael Caloyannides, Cheryl Charles, David Chaum, Ted Cooper, Amy D. Corning, Lorrie Cranor, Jim Dempsey, George Duncan, Jeff Dunn, Ed Felten, Michael Fitzmaurice, Michael Froomkin, Moya Gray, Rick Gubbels, Van Harp, Dawn Herkenham, Julie Kaneshiro, Orin Kerr, Scott Larson, Edward Laumann, Ronald Lee, David Lyon, Kate Martin, Patrice McDermott, Robert McNamara, Judith Miller, Carolyn Mitchell, Jim Neal, Pablo Palazzi, Kim Patterson, Merle Pederson, Priscilla Regan, Joel Reidenberg, Jeff Rosen, Mark Rothstein, Vincent Serpico, Donna Shalala, Martha Shepard, Eleanor Singer, David Sobel, Joe Steffan, Barry Steinhardt, Carla Stoffle, Gary Strong, Richard Varn, Kathleen Wallace, Mary Gay Whitmer and the NASCIO Privacy Team, and Matthew Wynia.

Finally, we must acknowledge the contribution of Lloyd Cutler, who served as co-chair of the committee from the time of its inception to the time of his death in May 2005. Lloyd was an active and energetic member of the committee, who insisted that we think about the principles involved and not just the particular cases being discussed. The intellectual rigor, curiosity, and decency shown and demanded by Lloyd set the tone

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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and the standard for the committee as a whole. We were fortunate to have him as part of our group, and we miss him very much.


William Webster, Chair

Jim Waldo, Vice Chair

Committee on Privacy in the Information Age

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Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Hal Abelson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

Ellen Clayton, Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

Peter Cullen, Microsoft Corporation,

George Duncan, Carnegie Mellon University,

Beryl Howell, Stroz Friedberg, LLC,

Alan Karr, National Institute of Statistical Sciences,

Michael Katz, University of California, Berkeley,

Diane Lambert, Google, Inc.,

Susan Landau, Sun Microsystems Laboratories,

Tom Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University,

Britton Murray, Freddie Mac,

Charles Palmer, IBM, Thomas J. Watson Research Center,

Emily Sheketoff, American Library Association,

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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Robert Sparks, Independent Consultant, El Dorado Hills, California,

Peter Swire, Ohio State University, and

Alan Westin, Independent Consultant, Teaneck, New Jersey.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Stephen Fienberg, Carnegie Mellon University. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2007. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11896.
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PART II
THE BACKDROP FOR PRIVACY

 

 

2

 

INTELLECTUAL APPROACHES AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS

 

57

   

 2.1  Philosophical Theories of Privacy,

 

58

   

 2.1.1  A Philosophical Perspective,

 

58

   

 2.1.2  Privacy as Control Versus Privacy as Restricted Access,

 

59

   

 2.1.3  Coherence in the Concept of Privacy,

 

62

   

 2.1.4  Normative Theories of Privacy,

 

66

   

 2.2  Economic Perspectives on Privacy,

 

69

   

 2.2.1  The Rationale for an Economic Perspective on Privacy,

 

69

   

 2.2.2  Privacy as Fraud,

 

71

   

 2.2.3  Privacy and the Assignment of Property Rights to Individuals,

 

73

   

 2.2.4  The Economic Impact of Privacy Regulation,

 

74

   

 2.2.5  Privacy and Behavioral Economics,

 

75

   

 2.3  Sociological Approaches,

 

79

   

 2.4  An Integrating Perspective,

 

84

3

 

TECHNOLOGICAL DRIVERS

 

88

   

 3.1  The Impact of Technology on Privacy,

 

88

   

 3.2  Hardware Advances,

 

90

   

 3.3  Software Advances,

 

95

   

 3.4  Increased Connectivity and Ubiquity,

 

97

   

 3.5  Technologies Combined into a Data-gathering System,

 

101

   

 3.6  Data Search Companies,

 

102

   

 3.7  Biological and Other Sensing Technologies,

 

106

   

 3.8  Privacy-enhancing Technologies,

 

107

   

 3.8.1  Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Use by Individuals,

 

107

   

 3.8.2  Privacy-enhancing Technologies for Use by Information Collectors,

 

109

   

  3.8.2.1  Query Control,

 

109

   

  3.8.2.2  Statistical Disclosure Limitation Techniques,

 

111

   

  3.8.2.3  Cryptographic Techniques,

 

112

   

  3.8.2.4  User Notification,

 

113

   

  3.8.2.5  Information Flow Analysis,

 

114

   

  3.8.2.6  Privacy-Sensitive System Design,

 

114

   

  3.8.2.7  Information Security Tools,

 

115

   

 3.9  Unsolved Problems as Privacy Enhancers,

 

116

   

 3.10  Observations,

 

118

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4

 

THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE IN THE UNITED STATES

 

122

   

 4.1  Constitutional Foundations,

 

122

   

 4.1.1  The Fourth Amendment,

 

122

   

 4.1.2  The First Amendment,

 

125

   

 4.1.3  The Ninth Amendment,

 

127

   

 4.2  Common Law and Privacy Torts,

 

129

   

 4.3  Freedom of Information/Open Government,

 

131

   

 4.3.1  Federal Laws Relevant to Individual Privacy,

 

133

   

 4.3.2  Federal Laws Relevant to Confidentiality,

 

142

   

 4.3.3  Regulation,

 

143

   

 4.4  Executive Orders and Presidential Directives,

 

146

   

 4.5  State Perspectives,

 

147

   

 4.6  International Perspectives on Privacy Policy,

 

151

   

 4.7  The Impact of Non-U.S. Law on Privacy,

 

151

5

 

THE POLITICS OF PRIVACY POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES

 

155

   

 5.1  The Formulation of Public Policy,

 

155

   

 5.2  Public Opinion and the Role of Privacy Advocates,

 

162

   

 5.3  The Role of Reports,

 

166

   

 5.4  Judicial Decisions,

 

170

   

 5.5  The Formulation of Corporate Policy,

 

171

PART III
PRIVACY IN CONTEXT

 

 

6

 

PRIVACY AND ORGANIZATIONS

 

177

   

 6.1  Institutional Use of Information,

 

178

   

 6.2  Education and Academic Research Institutions,

 

183

   

 6.2.1  Student Information Collected for Administrative Purposes,

 

183

   

 6.2.2  Personal Information Collected for Research Purposes,

 

187

   

 6.3  Financial Institutions,

 

188

   

 6.4  Retail Businesses,

 

191

   

 6.5  Data Aggregation Organizations,

 

196

   

 6.6  Nonprofits and Charities,

 

200

   

 6.7  Mass Media and Content Distribution Industries,

 

201

   

 6.8  Statistical and Research Agencies,

 

203

   

 6.9  Conclusion,

 

205

7

 

HEALTH AND MEDICAL PRIVACY

 

209

   

 7.1  Information and the Practice of Health Care,

 

209

   

 7.2  Privacy in Medicine,

 

211

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 7.3  Addressing Issues in Access to and Use of Health Data,

 

216

   

 7.3.1  Industry Self-regulation,

 

216

   

 7.3.2  Legislation—HIPAA and Privacy,

 

219

   

 7.3.3  Patient Perspectives on Privacy,

 

223

   

  7.3.3.1  Notifications of Privacy Policy,

 

223

   

  7.3.3.2  Privacy Implications of Greater Patient Involvement in Health Care,

 

224

   

  7.3.3.3  Improper Interpretation and Unintended Consequences of HIPAA Privacy Regulations,

 

225

   

  7.3.3.4  Spillover Privacy Implications of Receiving Health Care Services,

 

226

   

 7.3.4  Institutional Advocacy,

 

227

   

 7.4  Open Issues,

 

227

8

 

LIBRARIES AND PRIVACY

 

231

   

 8.1  The Mission of Libraries,

 

233

   

 8.2  Libraries and Privacy,

 

235

   

 8.3  Libraries and Technology,

 

238

   

 8.4  Libraries and Privacy Since 9/11,

 

242

   

 8.5  Emerging Technologies, Privacy, and Libraries,

 

244

   

 8.6  Conclusion,

 

248

9

 

PRIVACY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY

 

251

   

 9.1  Information Technology, Privacy, and Law Enforcement,

 

252

   

 9.1.1  Background,

 

252

   

 9.1.2  Technology and Physical Observation,

 

254

   

 9.1.3  Communications and Data Storage,

 

259

   

 9.1.4  Technology and Identification,

 

266

   

 9.1.5  Aggregation and Data Mining,

 

271

   

 9.1.6  Privacy Concerns and Law Enforcement,

 

275

   

 9.2  Information Technology, Privacy, and National Security,

 

277

   

 9.2.1  Background,

 

277

   

 9.2.2  National Security and Technology Development,

 

280

   

 9.2.3  Legal Limitations on National Security Data Gathering,

 

280

   

 9.2.4  Recent Trends,

 

284

   

 9.2.5  Tensions Between Privacy and National Security,

 

292

   

 9.3  Law Enforcement, National Security, and Individual Privacy,

 

293

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Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly boundaryless options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries. Online practices of business and government agencies may present new ways to compromise privacy, and e-commerce and technologies that make a wide range of personal information available to anyone with a Web browser only begin to hint at the possibilities for inappropriate or unwarranted intrusion into our personal lives. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age presents a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination of privacy in the information age. It explores such important concepts as how the threats to privacy evolving, how can privacy be protected and how society can balance the interests of individuals, businesses and government in ways that promote privacy reasonably and effectively? This book seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions one takes and the privacy policies that are enacted, and provides a variety of tools and concepts with which debates over privacy can be more fruitfully engaged. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age focuses on three major components affecting notions, perceptions, and expectations of privacy: technological change, societal shifts, and circumstantial discontinuities. This book will be of special interest to anyone interested in understanding why privacy issues are often so intractable.

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