Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!milton!cyberoid From: cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Database Regulation (was Re: Post Office plans.) Message-ID: <13283@milton.u.washington.edu> Date: 19 Dec 90 22:11:49 GMT References: <5308@rsiatl.Dixie.Com> Organization: Human Interface Technology Lab, Univ. of Wash., Seattle Lines: 15 European data laws presume that data is in fact a property, a commodity, and its use can be regulated as is the use of other property (even in our liberal society). Who owns the data is less important than what is done with it. But some data is considered highly personal and its first right of ownership is with the person about whom it pertains. This right does not necessarily prohibit the use of the data by others, but it does permit the property owner to negotiate, individually or through the means of government, that it be dealt with in socially responsible ways. In a democracy, that generally means in ways that will produce the greatest social good. In a democracy with a bill of rights, there is also the criterion that the employment of property -- in this case, data -- not be used to damage another's interest, particularly a right. Bob Jacobson