Internet Privacy

Successful economies and cultures are built on trust. But a number of high-profile data breaches and privacy intrusions have caused anxiety for consumers and gotten the attention of Washington. New legislation may be needed to bolster confidence in the digital marketplace. But we've got to be thoughtful about it. So we don't strangle the golden goose that we call the Internet. Three points. Explosive growth of digital services shows that the benefits of data flows far outweigh the costs. Slow productivity growth in many industries stems from a lack of information intensity-too little data. Policies should thus encourage the use of more data. While putting consumers in control of sensitive information.A new national privacy law would consolidate existing industry specific laws prevent a patchwork of conflicting state laws and clarify the FTC's enforcement strategy for the digital age. But regulations cannot solve every problem. Evolving social norms, more robust institutions and new privacy-promoting technologies will actually do most of the heavy lifting of protecting our privacy and promoting data flows.