PEP is excited to pass along a Request for Proposals from the Internet Association for their Internet Economy Research Fellowships. This is ideal for PhD or JD students, dost-docs, or professional researchers. Please click below to read the full announcement.
Continue reading “Request for Proposals – Internet Economy Research Fellowships”
The Program on Economics & Privacy, with the support of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project, will hold its 6th Annual Public Policy Symposium on the Law & Economics of Privacy and Data Security, on Friday, June 1, 2018 at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, VA.
In the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica affair and recent high-profile data breaches, we are at an inflection point. There are increasing calls to rethink regulation of the digital economy, Congress is considering several bills to overhaul the laws governing the collection and use of consumer data, and the impact of the GDPR will be felt in the US in less than a month. What’s more, a new slate of FTC Commissioners has just started work.
Join us on June 1 for the 6th Annual Symposium on the Law & Economics of Privacy and Data Security where we tackle these issues with thought leaders from government, academia, think tanks, and industry.
This year’s symposium will include remarks from the new Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Andrew Smith.
The symposium will also feature panels on A New Regulatory Regime for Digital Platforms?, Algorithmic “Fairness”, What Does the GDPR Mean for the US?, and Researching Bug Bounty Programs.
Click here to view the agenda.
The Third Annual Digital Information Policy Scholars Conference will be held on Friday, April 27, 2018 at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia. Registration and breakfast will start at 8:00 am, and the program will begin at 9:00 am. The conference is hosted by the Program on Economics & Privacy whose mission is to promote the sound application of economic analysis to issues surrounding the digital information economy through original research, policy outreach, and education.
The Conference will feature a luncheon keynote from Andrew E. Stivers, Deputy Director for Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission.
This conference will feature 12 original research papers, including:
SEC Financial Filings
Ginger Jin (University of Maryland and National Bureau of Economic Research) and Yi Cao (University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business)
Privacy Literacy and Self-Efficacy in Establishing Value of Privacy
Dmitry Epstein and Kelly Quinn (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Sponsored Search Advertisement and Consumer Prices
Eduardo Schnadower Mustri, Alessandro Acquisti (Carnegie Mellon University), and Idris Adjerid (University of Notre Dame)
Infrastructural Solutions to the Analog Keyhole Problem
David Sidi and Laura Brandimarte (The University of Arizona)
Are Digital Markets Different?
John Newman (University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law)
Airbnb, Anonymity, and Illegal Actors
Liad Wagman (IIT Stuart School of Business)
See the full agenda HERE.
In How Consumers Value Digital Privacy: New Survey Evidence, Program on Economics & Privacy affiliated scholar, Professor Caleb Fuller presents new data that sheds light on the “Privacy Paradox.”
Regardless of how they define it, few people would deny that they’d like more privacy. The rise of the data-driven economy has thrust privacy issues to the fore of the public consciousness and it is unsurprising that the average American citizen, when surveyed, expresses a desire for less privacy-invasive behavior by both private firms and by government. But are they willing to bear the costs associated with additional privacy protection? The case for government intervention in digital markets is made stronger if consumers value privacy highly and if they are highly uninformed.
Based on a random sample of Internet users, Professor Fuller finds:
These findings lead Professor Fuller to conclude that “the ‘privacy paradox’ may not be a result of biases causing consumers to act inconsistently with their true preferences. Rather, it’s possible that the paradox may be explained on simpler grounds: surveys often take an unconstrained approach; behavior online always incurs a real cost (even if it’s a very small opportunity cost).”
Professor Fuller will be presenting his paper, Is the Market for Digital Privacy a Failure?, which draws on this new evidence, at the FTC’s PrivacyCon on February 28.
Read the full report here.
George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Program on Economics & Privacy
Third Annual Digital Information Policy Scholars Conference
April 27, 2018
Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, Arlington, VA
The Program on Economics & Privacy (PEP) at Antonin Scalia Law School will host a scholars conference on the economics of digital information policy on April 27, 2018. The conference will be open to the public.
The mission of PEP is to promote the sound application of economic analysis to issues surrounding the digital information economy through original research, policy outreach, and education. The annual Digital Information Policy Scholars Conference is intended to further this goal by providing a forum to present original research on this important area of the US economy.
Topics:
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Submissions:
Please send your paper or abstract by February 19, 2018, to Jeff T. Smith, Coordinator of PEP, at jsmithq@gmu.edu. Preference will be given to completed papers. The selection committee includes Alessandro Acquisti (Carnegie Mellon), Jane Bambauer (University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law), Michael Baye (Indiana University, Kelley School of Business), James Cooper (George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School), Sasha Romanosky (RAND), Andrew Stivers (Federal Trade Commission), and Catherine Tucker (MIT, Sloan School of Management). Selections will be made by March 5, 2018.
Selected authors will receive a $300 honorarium and will be provided lodging for the night of April 26, 2018. There will be a dinner for participants on April 26. Selected authors will be responsible for submitting a final version of their paper by April 13, 2017. In addition to presenting their paper, selected authors will be expected to serve as a discussant for one paper at the conference.
On Friday, the Program on Economics & Privacy submitted a comment to the Federal Trade Commission’s Informational Injury Workshop. You can read the comment here. The workshop, held on Dec 12, 2017, will examine consumer injury in the context of privacy and data security. The workshop is free and open to the public. More information can be found on the FTC’s website.
The Program on Economics & Privacy (PEP) at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School invites applications for the 2017-18 Privacy Scholars Fellowship Program. The Privacy Scholars Fellowship Program is designed to support research on the economics of privacy and data security. Total honorarium payments of $12,000 per paper will be available to those who complete all stages of the program. The PEP will provide lodging and meals at all events, but participants will be responsible for their own transportation arrangements and expenses.
The Fellowship Program is structured in five stages that are designed to lead to the completion of an original piece of scholarly work suitable for publication.
Empirical projects are strongly preferred to theoretical or doctrinal research. Topics of special interest include the following:
The PEP’s mission is to inject sound economic analysis into policy discussions surrounding privacy, data security, and other competition and consumer protection issues facing the digital economy. We pursue this mission through research, education, and hosting public policy programs that bring together academics, thought leaders, and government officials to discuss cutting edge issues involving the digital economy. For more information regarding this program or other initiatives of the PEP, please visit https://pep.gmu.edu.
You may also call or send an email to James Cooper, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Program on Economics & Privacy, at 703.993.9582 or jcoope20@gmu.edu.
Program on Economics & Privacy affiliated faculty member, Professor Jane Bambauer, explores the recent developments in biometric privacy laws in her latest paper, “Biometric Privacy Laws: How a Little-Known Illinois Law Made Facebook Illegal.”
Banks and retailers are increasingly interested in using biometric information to authenticate customers by converting a scan of their biological features into an elaborate password.
The benefits of biometric authentication are obvious, but so are the drawbacks: since the systems use scans of irises, fingers, and even facial structures, a user’s biometric passwords are on public display every time they leave the house. Some states have passed biometric privacy laws to help facilitate the development of biometric authentication technologies. But these well-intentioned biometric privacy laws showcase the problems that arise when public policy tries to keep up with technology.
They are wildly overbroad, potentially exposing even individual users of basic photo organization software to civil liability based on conduct that poses no risk to data security. What is more, the laws are also unlikely to be necessary to accomplish their intended goals; companies that are developing biometric authentication systems to protect sensitive personal data are already using technological solutions to manage the security risks, rendering the legal solutions obsolete. Finally, their scope possibly contravenes the First Amendment and the Dormant Commerce Clause.
Although the purpose of these nascent laws is laudable, so far they appear to have only spurred class action litigation that is likely to harm, rather than help, the interests of the average consumer.
Read the full paper here.
Registration is still open for the 5th Annual Public Policy Symposium on the Law & Economics of Privacy and Data Security on Thursday, June 8, 2017 at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.
The morning keynote will feature Omri Ben-Shahar (The University of Chicago); the luncheon will feature a keynote address from David A. Hyman (Georgetown Law), and a panel discussion on the The Future of FTC Privacy & Data Security Policy featuring Thomas B. Pahl, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Speakers at the Symposium also include Julie Brill, former FTC Commissioner and partner at Hogan Lovells, Joshua D. Wright, former FTC Commissioner and professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School, William C. MacLeod, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section, and Lydia Parnes, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
The Program on Economics & Privacy (PEP) and Mason Attorneys General Education Program are pleased to announce their upcoming Workshop for Attorneys General on the Economics of Information, Advertising, and Privacy, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 through Thursday, June 8, 2017. The Workshop will bring together state attorneys general staff and regulators from throughout the United States to discuss and hear from leading experts on the economics of information on the issues confronting policy makers in the digital economy.
The first day of the Workshop (June 7) will be devoted to in-depth instruction on the economics of information, advertising, and privacy. On June 8, attendees will take part in PEP’s 5th Annual Symposium on the Law & Economics of Privacy and Data Security. In partnership with the Future of Privacy Forum and the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy, this year’s symposium will explore the development of a benefit-cost framework for privacy and cybersecurity policy. Scholars from interdisciplinary backgrounds, including economics, law, public policy, business and marketing, will address topics such as: How to evaluate the success of data control programs; the proper role of ex ante regulation versus ex post enforcement; and the proper accounting of subjective privacy harms as well as the benefits from tailored content and advertising.
