Disclosures
Lawrence Lessig published a Disclosure Statement that is worth reading. I regularly hear professionals lecture on topics in which they have financial interests that they fail to disclose adequately or at all. Obviously, that is problematic. But Lessig asks another important question: is disclosure enough? Following his “Non-Corruption (NC) Principal”, his answer is no.
If you believe I am following my principle, then you can still believe I am biased because I’m a liberal, or wrong because I’m an idiot, or overly attentive because I’m easily flattered, or under-attentive because I punish people who behave badly. All that the NC principle promises is that I am not saying what I am saying because of money.
I wonder how Lessig handles his retirement savings. One would assume he owns broad based mutual funds that invest in every sector of the economy. If so, his statements about Google Books, for example, may directly impact Google share prices and indirectly effect his retirement savings.
In thinking about what my disclosure statement would say, I realize I’m more financially tied to projects which I’m involved in. My clients may pay my bills, but they don’t buy my voice. If I had to craft a disclosure statement today, I’m not sure how I would handle commenting on clients’ projects and my own commercial projects. Maybe disclosure is enough in my case. In the past and until further notice, comments on project in which I have a financial interest will have a simple disclosure of that fact.
Tagged: links
ideas posted by: dan @ 06 Jun 2007 14:36