Privacy law's hidden roadblock: Americans' beliefs


August 22, 2022

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Americans' conception of privacy itself, as much as a deadlocked Congress, stands in the way of the U.S. adopting a national digital privacy law, experts tell Axios.

The big picture:  U.S. citizens, uniquely among global populations, think of  privacy as the right to decide who enters their space.

Zoom out: American individualism historically emphasizes personal choice and freedom, especially freedom from government intrusion into personal space...

The bottom line: The American public simply isn't demanding a privacy law, Susan Ariel Aaronson, director of the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub at George Washington University, said.

  • "I do think there's this huge contradiction between what people say they want and what they actually want," Aaronson told Axios. "They want free more than they want privacy."

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