The debate over information privacy in the last decade has been dominated by unscientific survey data and lurid anecdotal data, making it difficult to determine if there really is a privacy crisis and, if so, what public policy choices would most effectively mitigate it without introducing...

With over a dozen bills pending in both the U.S. and E.U. to "solve" the privacy crisis, perhaps it's time to take a step back and ask some fundamental questions about information management in the age of big data. Why does "private" information evoke visceral policy responses? Is there a...