If we fail to address the privacy issues that arise with this new technology we may undermine its roles as communication medium, information source, and global marketplace of ideas and products. The Code of Fair Information Practices and other general policies and laws dealing with privacy and personal data generally avoid labeling certain data as sensitive. It is through facilitating individual decisions over the use and disclosure of personal information that public policy can best serve the privacy interest of the individual. A number of reasons argue for policies that facilitate control. The perceived sensitivity of a given piece of information will vary based on a number of factors such as, the individual involved and the context or purpose in question.
Individuals have extremely varied privacy interests.
On the other hand many individuals find the publication of their phone number in the white pages to be a useful method of enabling friends and others to contact them. People in each position should be able to set their privacy expectation. Similarly, the same individual may have different privacy concerns with a single piece of information depending on the context or the purpose. For example, an individual may be perfectly happy to share information about their income when applying for a bank loan, but would not offer that information to a company for the purposes of direct marketing. Finally the same piece of information may raise different concerns at different times in an individuals life.