Reihan Salam explores in this Reuters op-ed the impact that privacy concerns have on the societal benefits of technological innovation. Highlighting the friction between Stewart Baker’s stance on NSA intelligence-gathering and civil liberties advocates’ concerns with the violation of privacy, Salam writes, “I couldn’t tell you which side is closer to the mark” adding, “What is increasingly clear to me, however, is that privacy concerns are limiting our ability to flourish as a society for reasons having nothing to do with NSA surveillance.” Salam goes on to discuss the recent Food and Drug Administration actions against 23andme as well as the reluctance of higher education institutions to build a “student unit records” database as evidence for his theory. Editor’s Note: Stewart Baker will take part in a discussion about government access to information at the upcoming IAPP Data Protection Congress in Brussels this month.
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