The Communitarian Update

Number 16
April 1, 1999

Medical Privacy: Shalala's New Commitment.

Congress, prevented from enacting medical privacy legislation by lobbies, ruled that if it does not act by August '99, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will promulgate medical privacy rules on her own. On March 16, Secretary Donna Shalala denied rumors that such a deadline will be allowed to slide, declaring, "I will use this authority."

Big Brother or Big Bucks?

Visit the "Big Brother Inside" web page, run by The Privacy Page, and you will find that they are up in arms--about Intel's Pentium III chip, which strips away privacy more than the East German police, ever did.

New Privacy Advisor

Congratulations to Peter Swire, recently appointed White House Privacy Czar. Prof. Swire spoke about privacy and cyberspace at the Communitarian Summit. He is the co-author of None of Your Business: World Data Flows, Electronic Commerce, & the European Privacy Directive; on leave from Ohio State University.

The Right to a Jury? Yes. The Responsibility to Serve???

In his article "Reinvigorating Citizenship" in the latest issue of Society, Stephen Bates reports that, "Nationwide, some 60 percent of people summoned for jury service don't bother showing up. Many suffer no penalty." He goes on to cite a 1995 Los Angeles County poll which showed that 57 percent of people "deem (jury duty) a matter of personal choice," but only 41 percent think of it as "a matter of civic responsibility."

More Discussion Dates

Amitai Etzioni will be discussing issues raised in his new book The Limits of Privacy at:

April 1, The University of Washington (Seattle) Law School, at 3:30 PM
April 2, The University of California-Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, at 1:00 PM
April 5, The UCLA Law School, Room 2448 at noon
April 6, The University of Chicago Divinity School at 4:00 PM
April 7, George Washington University's Public Health Week at Ross Hall, 4:15 PM
April 8, The National Press Club's Book Rap, 6:00 PM
April 13, George Washington University's Elliot Room at 1:00 PM
April 14, Columbia University's CITI- Institute for Tele-Information, 142 Uris Hall, 5:30 PM
Vernon Ford concludes his review of The Limits of Privacy in Booklist with: "This book provides a valuable and informative analysis of a timely and interesting topic." The introduction to the book is posted on our web site. It can be ordered at a 50% discount from The Communitarian Network

SASE 10th Anniversary

The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics was founded at a meeting of the Harvard Business School during a meeting March 30, through April 2, 1989. Mazel tov to our older sibling.

Computers, Freedom, & Privacy 99

The ninth annual conference on Computers, Freedom + Privacy will be held in Washington, DC on April 6-8, 1999. CFP is the leading Internet policy conference. For details see their web site

Civica Conference Postponed

Civica's First Congress of the Third Sector, Solidarity & Philanthropy was to take place in May in Madrid. That meeting has now been postponed. A new date will likely be set for October 1999.

The Communitarian Update is edited by Andrew S. Becker. Send any news items or questions to him at comnet@gwu.edu

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