The Need for an R&D Roadmap for Privacy

The increasing use of data by the public and private sectors has put privacy issues at the front and center of many policy debates, including on health care, home energy efficiency, cyber security, transportation, and of course, e-commerce. Learning how to properly collect, manage and use data is an important challenge for many organizations. If privacy concerns are not adequately addressed, they may stall or disrupt the deployment of new technologies that offer many potential economic and quality-of-life benefits to consumers. But at the same time, if policymakers promulgate overly strict privacy regulations, they may stall or disrupt these same technologies. Effectively addressing privacy concerns in ways that do not block innovation will require a mix of new technologies and policies to ensure that data is properly safeguarded and consumers are protected.

Rather than block potentially harmful uses of technology, government should find ways to address known challenges so as to enable further innovation and adoption of technology. For example, if there are limits to what policymakers believe the public and privacy sector should do with data (because of limitations in the current state of the art in technology), then policymakers should direct more investments in R&D to overcome these challenges.


The Need for an R&D Roadmap for Privacy