--- Background: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=Ribstein http://www.cei.org/PRReader.asp?ID=1525 --- From: "Larry Ribstein" <lribsteiat_private> To: <declanat_private> Cc: <bkobayasat_private> Subject: The ACT poll and the state law issue Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 15:41:47 -0400 Declan: Another poll on privacy. What does it all mean and where is this going? By now we've heard a lot from all of the various privacy camps. The privacy mavens would like to see strong federal laws mandating everything in the world. The free market people would like to see no laws. At least some of the companies would like to see a weak federal law that preempts all state laws. Do any of these camps really think they are going to get their wish lists, given the massive confusion in everything from policy to opinion polls? More importantly, does anyone in any of these camps have a viable political strategy? The only thing that everybody seems to agree on is that state laws on this issue can't work. But while it is true that they won't work perfectly, and won't solve all the problems right away, the question is whether any of these other "plans" will work better. No law? Get real. Limited federal law? Does anyone believe that Congress will really knock out all state law, or come up with some simple global solution? Even if Congress were infinitely wise and perfectly motivated, the fact is that there is no such solution to all of the disparate privacy problems. So what we'll end up with is 18 different federal laws, administered by 18 different federal agencies, each expanding its jurisdiction daily, PLUS 51 state laws, and infinity of foreign laws, and a lot of questions about how all this interacts. Sounds great if you're a lawyer. So why not look again at a state law solution with all this in mind? We think that a system in which vendors designate the law and forum of a particular state is both enforceable and realistic. See our article at http://www.federalismproject.org/conlaw/ecommerce/cookies.pdf. We welcome comments. Larry Ribstein and Bruce Kobayashi George Mason University Law School 3401 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA 22201 703 993-8041/fax 8202 lribsteiat_private www.ribstein.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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