historic culture and institutions, differing virtually only in the form of political and economic organization, which were adopted by those societies at war ’ s end. almost a half - century later, when the berlin wall was torn down, the results of this remarkable experiment vividly and unqualifiedly attested to the superiority of the west german free market system based on individual rights, a system where people lived with minimum fear of the state ’ s intrusion into their daily lives. in east germany, in contrast, to assure that society was appropriately collectivized, it was necessary to probe into the private lives of all individuals and suppress individual freedoms. human beings had to be molded by force to achieve the east german leaders ’ distorted view of societal organization. privacy was scarcely the goal or purpose of the east german state. indeed, intrusiveness into the lives of all of the citizens was perceived to be an essential ingredient in its organization. the political and economic results of the post - war competition between east and west generally have been unequivocal. the free market capitalism of west germany has been judged superior in all relevant respects, with very few dissenting from that conclusion. the human need for privacy surely was a major factor in that outcome. to be sure, our newer information technologies can scarcely be perceived as the type of threat to privacy as that of the soviet state. nonetheless, the same pressing need for privacy, which helped upend the soviet union, can be expected to address and overcome concerns that our newer technologies will intrude on our cherished need for privacy. communism fell because its practice eliminated personal incentives to work and to acquire property, except in a very limited sense. the existence of such incentives requires the broad freedoms we enjoy to pursue our myriad personal goals. it was the deprivation of these incentives and the suppressing of competition among individuals, the hallmark of a growing economy, which brought communism down. since privacy is such an evident value in our society, where technology threatens that value, entrepreneurs can be counted on to seek means to defend it. the major resources they have devoted to encryption in the development of new communication systems attest to the economic value they place on privacy in communications. moreover the pressures to enact legal prohibitions on the dissemination of personal records will also create incentives to produce technologies that protect them. indeed, the most effective means to counter technology ’ s erosion of privacy is technology itself. the marketplace is burgeoning with new devices to this end. these devices, of

european central bank : press conference a€ “ introductory statement introductory statement by mr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank and mr christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, at the press conference, held in frankfurt am main on 1 february 2001. * * * ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you to our first press conference of 2001. the vice - president and i are here to report, as we have done for more than two years now, on the outcome of today's meeting of the governing council of the ecb, which was also attended by the eurogroup president, minister reynders, as well as by commissioner solbes. let me also take this opportunity to again welcome greece as the twelfth country to join the euro area. mr. papademos, the governor of the bank of greece, has been participating in our meetings as a member of the governing council since 1 january 2001. the governing council conducted its regular examination of monetary and economic developments and their implications for the maintenance of price stability in the euro area. the decision to keep interest rates unchanged reflects the governing council's assessment that the risks to price stability in the medium term now appear more balanced than at the end of last year. factors which might pose upward risks to price stability in the medium term are still present and as such will be subject to ongoing close monitoring. let me elaborate on this assessment. starting with the first pillar of the monetary policy strategy of the ecb, monetary data for december 2000 confirmed the gradual moderation of the growth of monetary aggregates which has been observed since the spring of last year. according to the latest data, the three - month average of the annual growth rates of m3 in the months from october to december 2000 stood at 5. 0 %, which was slightly lower than the average of 5. 1 % recorded for the period from september to november 2000. therefore, after the recent slowdown in monetary growth, the risks to price stability from the monetary side have become increasingly balanced. caution still needs to be exercised, however, given the continued dynamics in credit growth to the private sector and the upward deviation of m3 from the reference value in the past. turning to the examination under the second pillar, broadly similar indications are emerging, as inflationary impulses resulting from previous developments in oil prices and the external value of the euro are gradually diminishing. as regards economic activity, uncertainty concerning the external environment for the euro area has increased,