It is not and should not be designed to ameliorate groundless technophobia. Human beings always have been and always will be eager to learn about one another. This is a problem of how to get information from one place to another, from business to business and from buyer to seller. Regulatory barriers to the flow of information impedes finding answers to this question, and makes everyone poorer. The free flow of information will make us all richer but not if misdirected privacy concerns get in the way of designing new information-age gadgets.
Privacy remains important as a check on the unique powers of government.
And some businesses will learn that protecting confidentiality will win the loyalty of certain groups of customers. Privacy preferences may vary widely from year to year or from minute to minute. We have much to learn about how the Information Age economy will work.