nformation in a digitally networked world where personal data can be input, stored, sorted, analyzed, mined, transmitted and exchanged globally with increasing ease and decreasing cost. There is growing concern about data privacy, especially on the Net which is accompanied by marked disagreements about what can, and should be done. These differences are exacerbated by very real cross-cultural and cross-national differences in values, history and economic philosophies. Where national borders are not even speed bumps on the information superhighway. We argue that while the protection of personal data in a networked world requires transnational solutions, stark differences exist in basic privacy values among nations and cultures. These differences, which flow from basic cultural traits such as individualism and varying political-economic philosophies, are very real and cannot be papered over. This circle must be squared: global solutions must deal with local differences. The data privacy issue serves as a metaphor for more general problems of governance of the world economy given the reality of basic, underlying cross-border social, cultural and political differences. Data privacy is a concern on the Net. A recent E-Trust survey found that over 80% of consumers are more concerned about privacy on the Net than with the telephone or mail. A widely cited Business Week/Harris poll reported that 61% of respondents who use the Net cite privacy as their primary concern. An OECD workshop concluded that unless consumers gained more confidence that their privacy would be protected, the growth of Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) would be hindered.Consumers should be concerned. While the situation may have improved somewhat in the interim, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported that while over 85% of Web sites collected personal information, only 14% provide any notice about their privacy practices and only 2% provide a comprehensive privacy polic...
