Oh, what a tangled web we weave: The state of privacy protection in the information economy and recommendations for governance

The explosion of database marketing combined with the advent of computer matching programs and cheap computing power has forever changed the face of data collection and distribution in America and the world. Never before have marketers had such inexpensive access to reliable information about consumers. This new marketing power has, however, come with a privacy price tag that many consumers find objectionable: Detailed personal data on virtually every American is readily available for discovery or download at little or no cost. This relatively new state of data availability operates against a backdrop of limited privacy regulation. Federal privacy statutes largely focus on government distribution of information, not private data exchanges. State laws vary widely, with some states heavily regulating the type of information that can be exchanged and others providing few restrictions on private information distribution. The result is a significant series of gaps in the privacy protections for consumers. In this paper, we examine federal and state laws that restrict data collection and distribution in the United States and their strengths and weaknesses in the face of rapid technological advancement. We also develop a framework for classifying the existing privacy mechanisms. We use this framework to explore the implications for a comprehensive overhaul of the statutory privacy policy as well as the consequences of maintaining the status quo in an era in which the existing statutes are effectively overwhelmed by the changing technology. (C) 2002 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.