The burden of protection should fall on those collecting or using data, not on the multitudes of scattered individuals who are using a variety of electronic systems to go about their daily activities. Accomplishing this goal is a complex technical and social matter, requiring an industry-wide effort that governments, at best, should help to coordinate and, at the very least, should not hinder. This document provides guidelines that might be used by principled institutions to guarantee proper respect for the privacy and dignity of employees, customers, and citizens. While we call on governments and data collectors to promote privacy-protecting technology and to offer guaranties that electronically exchanged information will not be misused, we recognize that they are not doing so adequately at present. Users should therefore protect themselves by learning about the risks of using networks and by employing available software solutions.
Technologies exist today to protect and preserve privacy.
These include encryption products like PGP, anonymous remailers, and a variety of security and privacy mechanisms built into commonly-used software. Some of these resources have been attacked at the federal level as dangerous to national and internal security. The real danger is that the world of networked communication will be one in which users can be monitored in their every move. These privacy resources must be protected for the benefit of all. Many employers have no standing policy on employee privacy.