[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[FYI] U.S. Confused About Privacy
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI] U.S. Confused About Privacy
- From: "Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>
- Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 14:09:59 +0100
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Organization: PA Axel H Horns
- Reply-to: horns@t-online.de
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,35979,00.html
----------------------------- CUT --------------------------------
U.S. Confused About Privacy
by Manny Frishberg
5:00 p.m. Apr. 28, 2000 PDT
SEATTLE -- Differing attitudes and laws covering privacy rights and
free speech are generating conflicting rules for governing the
Internet in the United States and Europe, making it difficult to come
up with a set of global standards to govern the new medium, said a
professor addressing a conference on the issue here.
U.S. law places an almost unassailable right to free speech at the
core of its constitution, but has only vague protections for privacy
rights, said Shalini Venturelli, a professor of International
Communications at American University. European constitutions, on the
other hand, have strong guarantees of privacy, but give governments
considerably more latitude in controlling content, she said.
As a result, Venturelli said, European governments already have found
35 reasons and means for restricting the content allowed on Internet
websites. So the U.S. position on Net privacy protections, which
Europeans frequently view as entirely too weak, is not going to be
easily accepted by a few diplomats or trade negotiators in a forum
like the World Trade Organization.
[...]
----------------------------- CUT --------------------------------