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
The “Private” is “Public” Defense
Ware has pointed out the historical origins of the information industry in
financial activities. The underlying basis of those activities, to assure good
information and prevent unnecessary credit risks, thus significant losses, seems
reasonable enough (although the current S & L crisis surely gives pause).
And although abuses in the financial information industry have led to regulation
of those activities, the conception of information sharing which those activities
spawned remain unregulated.
At the heart of those activities is an assumption by the industry that claims
to privacy are mitigated by two sets of circumstances: first, that the original
source has “voluntarily” relinquished the information; and, second,
that the information in question is made “public,” usually by entry
into some governmental record, such as a court proceeding or legal filing.
Go to: 4.1 Private Information and “Voluntary” Release
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