Geoffrey Manne on Informational Injury in The National Law Review
The National Law Review, covering last week’s Federal Trade Commission “Informational Injury Workshop,” reported on ICLE Executive Director Geoffrey Manne’s participation:
Another area of sharp disagreement between the panelists was whether risk of future injury from disclosure constitutes an injury in and of itself… Geoffrey Manne, Executive Director of the International Center for Law & Economics, pushed back on these points, arguing that there cannot be an injury to consumers just because the risk of disclosure has been increased because defining injury in this way would prevent businesses from taking any risks.
Several panelists focused on the role of consumer agency in assessing whether an injury had occurred… Professor Cooper and Mr. Manne both emphasized the benefit to consumers from data collection practices, such as broader information sharing and insights that may be derived from data aggregation.
In discussing the role of government intervention in assessing injury, the panelists took a number of positions… Mr. Manne warned against deterring experimentation and the development of new technologies through over-regulation. All the panelists agreed that not all injuries necessitate government intervention and that a clearer definition of injury is needed to guide the FTC in bringing enforcement actions.