1. TOO MUCH INFORMATION? PRIVACY, RATIONALITY, AND TEMPTATION Katherine J. Strandburg DePaul University College of Law

2. MOTIVATION FOR INFORMATION PRIVACY AUTONOMY AND DIGNITY FOR ME v. FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION FOR YOU (BETTER DECISIONS) ?

3. IS MORE INFORMATION ALWAYS BETTER? SOCIAL NORMS AGAINST DISCLOSING PERSONAL INFORMATION SUGGEST THE ANSWER IS NO WHY DON’T WE WANT TO LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYONE?

4. TOO MUCH INFORMATION? TOO MUCH INFORMATION CAN DEGRADE DECISIONMAKING IN 3 WAYS: 1)MORE INFO NOT ALWAYS BETTER IF IT IS MISLEADING (EVEN IF COMPLETELY RATIONAL) 2)BOUNDED RATIONALITY – “MISTAKES” IN ANALYSIS DUE TO LOSS AVERSION, INACCURATE PROBABILITY ASSESSMENT, MENTAL ACCOUNTING 3)LIMITED WILLPOWER – INABILITY TO IGNORE IRRELEVANT INFORMATION (“MORE PREJUDICIAL THAN PROBATIVE”)

5. TOO MUCH INFORMATION? CONCLUSION: CONTROLLING FLOW OF PERSONAL INFORMATION IS A TWO-WAY STREET: BOTH SUBJECTS AND RECIPIENTS MAY BENEFIT FROM PRIVACY BOTH SUBJECTS AND RECIPIENTS CAN BE AFFECTED BY BOUNDED RATIONALITY BOTH SUBJECTS AND RECIPIENTS CAN SUFFER FROM SELF-CONTROL FAILURES

6. IMPLICATIONS for PERSON-TO-PERSON DISCLOSURES SOCIAL NORMS REGULATE INFORMATION BY CONTEXT, “APPROPRIATENESS” (ABILITY TO PROCESS ACCURATELY) PRIVACY TORTS SHOULD DO THE SAME BUT WHAT ABOUT COMPUTERIZED DATA PROCESSING?

7. CAN COMPUTERS HAVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION? WHO DECIDES WHAT INFORMATION TO COLLECT? - Loss aversion of agents - Private rationality v. Social optimality - Time-inconsistent preferences of agents (short term v. long term business goals) - Externalities on subjects of information

8. CAN COMPUTERS HAVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION? WHO DECIDES WHAT THE COMPUTER DOES? - Statistical optimization techniques (such as data mining) rely on human input - What data is “significant” - When are results “significant”, “interesting” - Statistical optimization techniques may be “distracted” into local optima - Categorical choices about “relevance” of information may avoid some pitfalls

9. CAN COMPUTERS HAVE TOO MUCH INFORMATION? WHO ASSESSES THE OUTPUT? -Tendency to over-emphasize the certainty of quantitative output -Tendency to over-emphasize specific output -Tendency to inaccurately interpret statistical output

10. CAN COMPUTERS PROVIDE TOO MUCH INFORMATION? COMPUTERIZED AGGREGATION OF DATA PERMITS TARGETED MARKETING -Targeted provision of information? OR -Targeted persuasion? UNDERMINING STRATEGIC IGNORANCE? ENTRAPMENT?

11. CAN COMPUTERS PROVIDE TOO MUCH INFORMATION? - COMPUTERIZED AGGREGATION OF DATA MOVES INFORMATION BETWEEN SOCIAL GROUPS - INTERFERING WITH SOCIAL NORMS OF APPROPRIATE DISCLOSURE? - NORMS THAT WE PROTECT WITH THE PRIVACY TORTS?

12. CONCLUSION -THE SOCIAL VALUE OF “FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION” PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE LESS THAN IT SEEMS -HUMAN COGNITIVE AND WILLPOWER LIMITATIONS SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND - THE VALUE AND MEANING OF COMPUTERIZED DATA PROCESSING ALSO DEPENDS ON UNDERLYING HUMAN INPUT, ANALYSIS, AND RESPONSE