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Control and Benefit Are Morally Owed to the Source
Richard A. Wright
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Reframing the Issues
- 3. The “High Cost to Industry” Defense
- 3.1 Raw Materials as a Cost of Doing Business
- 3.2 The Cost of Correcting Past Inequities as a Cost of Doing Business
- 3.3 Originator Control of Materials as a Feature of Doing Business
- 4. The “Private” is “Public” Defense 4.1 Private Information and “Voluntary” Release
- 4.2 Private Information in the “Public” Domain
- 4.3 Autonomy as the Basis for Understanding Privacy
- 5. Toward a Resolution
- 6. Concluding Thoughts
Originator Control of Materials as a Feature of Doing Business
In all other industries, the original source of materials
is also recognized as the controller of those materials, as so clearly
evidenced by the cost and availability of crude oil, and its effect on
every imaginable segment of industrialized society.
Granted, in the capitalist system, the market drives the demand, which
in turn drives the cost. Yet that can all be heavily manipulated by the
originating source, thus demonstrating control as a recognized entity
in the process.
Once again, however, the information industry has made an exception of
itself, most likely for two reasons: first, as noted above, it is easy
to obtain information without the original source being aware; but, second,
and more important, it is most likely that if the industry had to obtain
consent they would have significantly less information to utilize, since
there would be a considerable level of refusal. After all, how many people
would consent to have their name included on a pyramid listing for junk
mail? Yet to exclude such consent would be similar to not obtaining informed
consent for participation in medical research, on the grounds that doctors
could get more research done if the subjects did not know they were being
used for research purposes, because then patients could not opt out.
To require that the information industry recognize the control of the
original source of information would crimp their current style of operations.
But in all other industries this must simply be accepted as one cost of
doing business; why should the information industry be exempt? The strongest
argument at this time seems to be that the information is in fact “public,”
thus available for anyone to use as s/he sees fit. That argument must
now be examined.
Go to: 4. The “Private” is “Public” Defense
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