If you give individuals more control over their personal information, it will force industry to get acceptance from consumers before selling personal data, and I think that’s a desirable goal. One of the outcomes clearly could be that industry would be more responsive and more respectful of individual privacy right.
Predictor: Rotenberg, Marc
Prediction, in context:On Oct. 25, 1995, Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, appears on a CNN cable television talk show, sharing his thoughts on a lawsuit regarding the selling of names of individuals to companies for use in sending junk mail over the Internet. Rotenberg says: ”I think this lawsuit could have an enormous impact on practices in the United States. Obviously, if you give individuals more control over their personal information, it will force industry to get acceptance from consumers before selling personal data, and I think that’s a desirable goal. One of the outcomes clearly could be that industry would be more responsive and more respectful of individual privacy right … The chairman of the ethics committee for the Direct Marketing Association was forced to retire this summer after his company was selling data that was acquired illegally from California voting rolls. In fact, that data is available today illegally on a disc that is being sold to businesses and marketing firms. And I don’t understand how the Direct Marketing Association can say today, in 1995, that voluntary standards and industry self-regulation is going to work.”
Biography:Marc Rotenberg, was founder and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in the 1990s. He won an EFF Pioneer Award in 1997 for his work as a “champion of privacy, human rights and civil liberties on the electronic frontier.” He targeted the impact of computer and telecommunications technologies on freedom and privacy and was an active writer and speaker on associated topics. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: October 25, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: CNN Transcript
Title, headline, chapter name: Transcript #12-4 Insiders Disagree Over Merit of Junk Mail Lawsuit
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=fa704e01dffc642d63d164f5c7219d85&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVzz-lSlzV&_md5=59d716a3181c8beeb161359ad5ddbef2
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stevens, Shawn