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IP: WashPost: Should we sacrifice privacy for law enforcement?
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 11:21:45 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/20/129l-122098-idx.html Washington Post Editorial 'Knowing Your Customer' Sunday, December 20, 1998; Page C06 [...] But the balance between protection and intrusion teeters dangerously once those practices are mandated by government. An FDIC draft on the regulation, for instance, observes that mandating thorough "Know Your Customer" practices will remove the competitive disadvantage such practices sometimes impose on banks -- disadvantages that have made banks reluctant to expand those practices too far or to ask customers for certain kinds of sensitive information. But while it's sometimes helpful to level the playing field, that can't be said for the still fluctuating "market" in privacy practices, where some consumers balk at the intrusion involved in opening an account at one bank and may use that as a factor in choosing another. Unless narrowly drawn, regulations eliminating that choice will short-circuit an important debate being stirred by the vastly expanded capabilities to snoop and stockpile data. How much privacy can or should consumers be asked to sacrifice for larger societal goals like law enforcement?
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- IP: WashPost: Should we sacrifice privacy for law enforcement? Dave Farber (Dec 26)