It's hard for us to conceive of growth that rapid in a meaningful way. Because there's one thing that can stop E-Commerce dead in its tracks. It's a matter of trust. That makes privacy policy imperative. We know from surveys that 2 out of every 3 Internet users said that privacy matters so much that they'd leave a website if they were asked to provide private information.
Internet users understand better than most people that information is power.
That's an effort that we at The McGraw-Hill Companies believe in. That's why we started work on our privacy policy in 1996. That privacy is an issue that spans countries and continents and cultures. But my aim today isn't to read a roll call and pass out the accolades - because for all the effort thus far, for all the progress the private sector has made, that would be premature. Instead, my mission today is to underscore the sense of urgency that we must act.