Re: CPT letters to NYT

[Robert Gellman <rgellman@cais.cais.com>]

On Tue, 21 Nov 1995, Gordon Cook wrote:

> Sorry bob, your answer is that of the technocrat (and perhaps also the 
> self interested lobbyist? - I have been scanning a lot of what has gone 
> by here and I am relying on memeory which is dangerous.)

I am not a lobbyist on this bill.  I have no clients paying me to work 
on this legislation.  I have already said that I will disclose any 
conflicts if they develop.  My comments are my own, based on years of 
work in this area.

Your philosopical comments are a welcome contribution.  I see this issue 
as a choice between a good but not perfect bill or no bill.  I worked on 
health privacy legislation 15 years ago, and it failed in part because 
many thought that it wasn't perfect.  The result in 15 years of expanded 
uses of medical information. 

It is almost impossible to cut off uses that have become 
institutionalized. I don't like this any more than you, but I have lost 
plenty of battles trying.  There is no popular support for privacy that 
manifests itself, and there is support for many of these other uses.

These net discussion have an "other world" flavor that is substantially 
detached from the reality of how legislation is passed.  Everyone is 
welcome to their own point of view.  Those of us trying to make 
improvements in the real world only ask that we be treated fairly and not 
blamed for problems that we didn't cause.  It is no fun being blaming for 
saying that the Emperor has no clothes.

Bob

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