Informational privacy and moral values

A case from 1996 in Oregon in which citizens' legally public motor vehicle information was disseminated on a World Wide Web site is considered. The case evoked widespread moral outrage among Oregonians and led to changes in the Oregon records laws. The application of either consequentialist or non-consequentialist moral theories to this and other informational privacy cases is found to be inadequate. Adjudication of conflicting desires is offered as the appropriate analytical model for moral disputes. The notion of adjudication offered here diverges from traditional moral theories in its indeterminate nature. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.