Today, the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) is holding a Hill forum on privacy and the Internet. The group’s announcement for the event states that “More privacy, however, would mean less information, less valuable advertising, and thus fewer resources available for producing new low-priced services. It is this tradeoff that Congress needs to take into account as it considers new privacy legislation.”
What an absurd, reductionistic, and intellectually-dishonest claim. First, this group is funded by some of the largest companies engaged in behavioral data collection and also fighting meaningful privacy policies.  That includes Google and Time Warner. TPI’s other funders involved in some form of data collection and targeted interactive marketing include AT&T, Cisco, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and Verizon. Rep. Cliff Stearns, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on the Communications, Technology, and the Internet is speaking at the event: that committee is currently drafting privacy legislation to protect consumers. Panel speakers include TPI supporters Google and Comcast. The lone privacy group on the panel, CDT, is funded by Google and others. One academic on the panel also works for a high-tech consulting company. The other panel academic has done fine work on social networks and privacy.
What makes TPI’s posturing absurd, beyond its funding conflicts, is the current economic crisis. Consumer privacy laws are required to ensure that our financial, health and other personal transactions online are conducted in a responsible manner. Anyone–or group–who believes that we can’t have both privacy and a robust online marketplace is out of touch.
