In our moralizing world, the word ethics is used and abused. Ethics, according to one of the many definitions that can be found in the dictionary, is “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation”. But good and bad are notions that evolve over time: what is ethical cannot therefore be defined in absolute terms.
Earlier this month Richard Thomas, Britain’s new information commissioner, warned the government that its proposed “entitlement card” could tilt the balance of information power away from the citizen and too far towards the state. At a time of great concern about terrorism his intervention was courageous. It highlighted that privacy rights and data protection laws around the world now face their biggest challenge since they were first introduced 20 years ago.
On January 21, 2003, the European council of economic and finance ministers reached a compromise over the thorny question of the "tax package" which had divided its members for a long time. With regard to the taxation of savings, the European ministers decided of a system based on automatic exchange of information or a withholding tax. It was a return to the so-called "co-existence" model.
January January 16, 2003 Annual Press Point (documents in German)
