WASHINGTON D.C. - With increased attention surrounding highly publicized data security breaches, both the public and private sectors are feeling pressure to respond. What responsibility does the private sector have regarding notification of consumers when there is a possible data security breach? What role should State and Federal governments play in regulating a corporation's response to these breaches? What action is truly in the best interest of the consumer? At The Progress & Freedom Foundation's 11th Annual Aspen Summit, attendees will have the opportunity to explore and debate these topics with representatives from academia, federal agencies and the private sector in a relaxed and informal setting.

The Privacy and Security Informal Working Dinner, moderated by former Federal Trade Commissioner Orson Swindle, is one of a series of working dinners being held Monday, August 22 nd at PFF's Aspen Summit. The topics of these dinners, which include copyright, communications reform, patent reform and digital television, are meant to complement this year's conference theme, "Building a Digital Ownership Society: The Place for Property and Commons." As always, this year's Aspen Summit promises to provide a forum for business leaders and policy makers to exchange ideas on timely and pertinent topics impacting both the public policy realm and the business sector.

To round out the discussion, PFF has confirmed representatives from the public and private sector. Joining Swindle and Kent Lassman, Research Fellow at PFF, will be Dan Caprio, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Chief Privacy Officer for the U.S. Department of Commerce; Lee Peeler, Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection; Ken Nahigian, Senior Counsel for Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens; Paul Martino, Alston & Bird LLP; Lisa Anderson, Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Senator Patrick Leahy; Shannon Kellogg, Director of Government and Industry Affairs, RSA Security; and David Sohn, Counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

One of the Aspen Summit dinner participants, Emory University Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Law and Economics Paul Rubin, recently wrote with PFF Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research Tom Lenard a Progress & Freedom Foundation Progress on Point, "An Economic Analysis of Notification Requirements for Data Security Breaches." It concludes that the true cost of mandatory notifications outweigh any perceived benefits for the consumer. The points raised by the study promise to produce candid discussion among the guests regarding the true scale of data security breaches, the role of private sector incentives in protecting data, current legislation in the states and Congress and how to best structure a possible federal notification mandate.

Details about the 2005 PFF Aspen Summit can be found on our web site and registration can be performed online. Media as always are welcome to attend for free, and should contact Patrick Ross or Amy Smorodin at 202-289-8928, or pross@pff.org and asmorodin@pff.org, respectively.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.