Following up on last week's investigative report, The Wall Street Journal is exploring "The Great Privacy Debate" around consumer tracking on the Internet. Some advocates are calling for more control of users' online information while others are supporting less intervention on the Web. Jim Harper writes that when it comes to the Internet, "If Web users supply less information to the Web, the Web will supply less information to them." He discounts assertions about "surreptitious" cookies and writes, "people should get smart and learn how to control personal information." Nicholas Carr, however, suggests that the tradeoff between personalization and privacy on the Web poses real dangers--ranging from the potential for criminals to access personal information to a society-wide erosion of privacy. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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