Privacy Debate: Is Orwell Online?

Congressional staff hears Junkbusters, DoubleClick execs voice different approaches to preserving privacy.

Margret Johnston, IDG News Service

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Catlett's imaginary Orwellian Long Distance Company offers great prices, but customers pay with personal data. The Junkbusters president drew the analogy to Orwell's novel 1984 during a privacy discussion for Congressional staff here Wednesday.

The fictional company, "OLD," gathers information as Big Brother did in Orwell's novel: eavesdropping on telephone conversations, Catlett said. But OLD's sophisticated tools, such as voice recognition, picks up keywords and builds customer profiles.

All the while, OLD claims a deep commitment to protecting privacy, Catlett said. Its policy assures people that sensitive keywords about their health, sex life, and children are excluded. And OLD promises to encrypt personal data online and to let people read and edit information collected about them.

Who would use such a company's services, Catlett asked during this first of three privacy programs. Few hands went up. But Catlett said the fictitious practices are like those of Web companies that track visitors' surfing habits through cookies, while they also post privacy policies.

Catlett cited a February study by California HealthCare Foundation, which says some Internet health sites surreptitiously collect and share detailed personal data about visitors despite promises of confidentiality. Some companies share e-mail addresses and other information they promised to keep private, the report says.

"Why aren't these practices illegal?" Catlett asked the more than 100 Congressional staffers at the forum. Many of them are working on privacy legislation.

Alternate View

Another side of the argument came from Kevin Ryan, president of DoubleClick; and Fred Cate, director of the Information Law and Commerce Institute at Indiana University and author of Privacy in the Information Age. Both cautioned the legislative aides about rushing a legislative fix.

DoubleClick has come under fire for collecting information about Internet surfers' travels and sharing the data so its clients can target online ads. Ryan said it's too early in the evolution of the Internet and electronic commerce for legislation.

Nearly all the top 1000 Web sites have implemented privacy policies in the past year, Ryan noted.

Catlett's Orwellian telephone metaphor doesn't fit, because DoubleClick and others do not monitor e-mail. The practice is "fundamentally different" because it doesn't involve private conversations and simply matches banner ads to the user's interests, he said.

"If we asked what is the harm from banner advertisements today I have a feeling ... not one person would say 'I've had a problem,'" Ryan said. People can set their browsers to refuse cookies, and they should do so if they don't want to get targeted ads, Ryan added.

Congress should interfere as little as possible with individual rights, Cate said. "When government intervention is necessary, it should respond effectively to a specific harm."

It's unlikely any bills will progress this year, because the legislative calendar is shortened by the November election, noted staffers. But privacy is expected to be a hot topic next session.

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