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Showing papers on "Information privacy published in 1981"


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TL;DR: The concept of privacy has received a good deal of attention from lawyers, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers and psychologists, but until recently very little from economists as mentioned in this paper has been engaged.
Abstract: The concept of "privacy" has received a good deal of attention from lawyers, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers and psychologists, but until recently very little from economists. This neglect is on the mend (see, for example, my 1978, 1979a articles and forthcoming book, chs. 9-11; George Stigler), and in this paper I will report on the economic research on privacy in which I and others have been engaged. Some definitional clarification is necessary at the outset. Privacy is used today in at least three senses. First, it is used to mean the concealment of information; indeed, this is its most common meaning today. Second, it is used to mean peace and quiet, as when someone complains that telephone solicitations are an invasion of his privacy. Third, it is used as a synonym for freedom and autonomy; it is in this sense that the Supreme Court has used the word in subsuming the right to have an abortion under the right of privacy (see my 1979b article, pp. 190-200). The third meaning of privacy need detain us only briefly. To affix the term privacy to human freedom and autonomy (as in Jack Hirshleifer) is simply to relabel an old subject-not to identify a new area for economic research. The second meaning of the word privacy set out above invites a slightly novel application of economics. It suggests an economic reason why certain (cerebral) workers have private offices and other (manual) workers do not, why aversion to noise is associated with rising education, and why certain low-level invasions of a person's "private space" (for example, shoving a person roughly but without hurting him) are tortious (see my forthcoming book, ch. 10). But the range of economic applications in this area seems limited. The first meaning of privacy set out above-privacy as concealment of informationseems the most interesting from an economic standpoint. There is a rich and growing literature on the economics of information. It would seem that the same economic factors that determine search behavior by workers and consumers might also determine investments in obtaining, and in shielding, private information. This insight (emphasized in my 1978 article) provides the starting point for the economic analysis of privacy. To relate the economics of privacy to the economics of information in as clear a fashion as possible, consider the example of the employer searching across employees and the employee searching across employers. The employer is looking for certain traits in an employee that may not be obvious, things like honesty, diligence, loyalty, and good physical and mental health. To the extent that the employee is deficient in one or more of these characteristics, he has an incentivestrictly analogous to the incentive of a seller of goods to conceal product defectsto conceal these deficiencies. That is, he has an incentive to invoke a "right of privacy" if the employer tries to "pry" into his private life. The concealment of personal characteristics in the employment contest retards rather than promotes the efficient sorting of employees to employers. By reducing the amount of information available to the "buyer" in the labor market (the employer), it reduces the efficiency of that market. The analysis can easily be generalized, moreover, to other markets, some of them "noneconomic," in which private information is concealed. An example is the marriage "market." The efficient sorting of females to males in that market is impeded if either spouse conceals material personal information. The extended courtship that remains typical of the marriage market may be due in part to the efforts of prospective spouses to conceal their deficiencies from each other. *University of Chicago Law School.

271 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Gerard Salton1
01 Mar 1981

124 citations





Proceedings ArticleDOI
27 Apr 1981
TL;DR: This paper considers several issues with respect to a single, unified, well-designed logging process that has a wide variety of possible uses, and these ought all to be given weight during the design phase.
Abstract: Financial people have advocated, and even demanded an auditing process within computers so that trails could be analyzed. Both security and privacy, likewise, can make great use of the same type of logging activity. This paper considers several issues with respect to such activity; but perhaps the most fundamental idea is that a single, unified, well-designed logging process has a wide variety of possible uses, and these ought all to be given weight during the design phase. Audit trails form a significant part of the detective mechanisms for data security, and they are essential in the case of computer records dealing with human subjects when privacy is at stake.

14 citations



Journal Article
TL;DR: This Article explores the constitutional, statutory and common law privacy rights of physicians given the inescapable role of delivery data under supply side competition, and analyzes the usefulness of several common law causes of action to remedy the misuse of physician data.
Abstract: This Article explores the constitutional, statutory and common law privacy rights of physicians given the inescapable role of delivery data under supply side competition. The Article begins with a general review of the federal constitutional right of privacy. It then discusses the statutory protection given to physician-specific data under current federal law, and considers the insights gained from the controversy over physician data and the federal Freedom of Information Act. The remainder of the Article analyzes the usefulness of several common law causes of action to remedy the misuse of physician data, and concludes with recommendations which may obviate the need for litigation to protect against misuse of physician-specific data.

3 citations


01 Jan 1981

2 citations


01 Nov 1981
TL;DR: This paper aims to organize privacy concerns in some overall framework so that the various perspectives on privacy can be harmonized and a focus be provided to give some guidance to the legal and judicial systems of the country.
Abstract: : The invitation to present this paper suggested that it might seek to organize privacy concerns in some overall framework. How can the many dimensions of privacy be all put together? How can the various perspectives on privacy be harmonized? Can a focus be provided to give some guidance to the legal and judicial systems of the country? Behind these questions is the observation that the l egal, judicial, and legislative communities -- as influenced by moral and ethical views -- are dealing with privacy issues one by one as they arise. So to speak, the issues are dealt with disjointly and in the small rather than in the large. There seems to be no cohesion presently across the fabric of privacy. (Author)

2 citations




01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: The advent of computer technology and the heightened public concern with personal privacy in recent decades coincide with several other developments that make the issue of computers and privacy an important yet complex one for archivists to address.
Abstract: The advent of computer technology and the heightened public concern with personal privacy in recent decades coincide with several other developments that make the issue of computers and privacy an important yet complex one for archivists to address. Changes in government policies, especially the expansion of state supported benefits, mandated the collection of more personal information and expanded the quantity of documentation available on a wider range of citizens. At the same time, the focus of historical research has broadened to include an interest in the

01 Jan 1981
TL;DR: Abstract : Partial Contents: Computer Crime; Computer Security; Computer Defense; Data Exposure; A New Privacy Aspect; Gatekeeping; Data Puddles; Technological Defenses; and A Network Defense.
Abstract: : Partial Contents: Computer Crime; Computer Security; Computer Defense; Data Exposure; A New Privacy Aspect; Gatekeeping; Data Puddles; Technological Defenses; and A Network Defense.