Consumer Privacy: Balancing Economic and Justice Considerations

TLDR

Consumer privacy is a contested issue among business leaders, privacy activists, and government officials, as corporations balance competitive pressures to collect personal data with consumer concerns over unfair collection practices. The authors propose a justice‑theory framework that links consumer privacy concerns to the perceived fairness of corporate data practices. They outline global fair‑information principles and discuss three implementation options—government regulation, industry self‑regulation, and technology solutions—for applying these principles, especially online.

Abstract

Consumer privacy is at the center of an ongoing debate among business leaders, privacy activists, and government officials. Although corporations face competitive pressures to collect and use personal information about their customers, many consumers find some methods of collection and use of their personal information unfair. We present a justice theory framework that illustrates how consumer privacy concerns are shaped by the perceived fairness of corporate information practices. We describe a set of global principles, fair information practices, which were developed to balance consumer privacy concerns with an organization's need to use personal information. We conclude by discussing three alternatives for implementing fair information practices with particular attention to the Internet: government regulation, industry self‐regulation, and technological solutions .