WASHINGTON, D.C., December 2, 1998 -- "To solve privacy issues at the individual level, we have to solve them at the global level," said Thomas F. Chapman, president and CEO of Equifax Inc., the leading information solutions company in North America, Latin America and the United Kingdom. Delivering a keynote address at the Fifth Annual Privacy and American Business conference here today, Chapman called for "a broad global consensus on privacy protections by business and government."

He advocated a framework for global privacy based on a more open flow of information, in accordance with reasonable privacy standards. And he said leaders in both business and government should set the example in privacy issues. Chapman proposed making privacy practice a part of the job description for every manager in business and government. He proposed an international counterpart to the famous Baldridge Quality Award for privacy.

The new framework is built on three principles:

• Recognize the direct correlation between economic growth and the accessibility of information,
• Commit to understand more precisely how to personalize world markets without compromising individual privacy,
• Explore a lasting way to work together to elevate privacy, creating stronger economies around the world.

"The leadership challenge is to build a meaningful consensus and not allow this to become a world divided by privacy issues as it has been a world divided by political borders, languages, currencies and forms of government," Chapman said.

According to Chapman, global consensus won't be easy, because data privacy is treated very differently around the world. The United States Privacy Model is based on the importance of the free flow of information. "We believe the goal of protecting information privacy is best achieved primarily by the combination of a competitive marketplace, contractual agreements, and by meaningful industry self-regulation, " he said.

The European Union Data Protection Directive, which relies on sweeping centralized government regulation, more restrictive flow of personal information -- and demands that businesses in non-European Union nations have at least "adequate" privacy protections to engage in transborder data flow.

Canada, where Equifax has operated since 1919, "takes a somewhat middle course in its new Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act," Chapman said.

In Latin America, "increasing sophistication in the banking, financial, telecommunications and other retailing systems is driving the need for access to more comprehensive and reliable data for risk assessment. This somehow must co-exist with demands for information privacy," he said.

Chapman described the Asia-Pacific region as a series of models, noting that while the free market countries there follow the Western lead, there are echoes of the new EU Directive reverberating in countries from Australia to Hong Kong to Taiwan.

"I believe productivity of knowledge will be the chief determinant of progress in the next century, if we don't put so many privacy restrictions in the way that we Balkanize that progress. The ultimate question here: is privacy going to connect or disconnect -- on a global basis?" he said. "Business, government and others want to be empowered by information. With power comes awesome responsibility."

In charging the conference to do substantial work, Chapman said, "Let's build a new global environment that recognizes that privacy is the key to the new economy.

"Let's start by defining the term global privacy -- a full consensus definition. There are at least 200 definitions around the world now, but if knowledge is the new global currency, we cannot have a thousand exceptions as to where and when that currency is accepted.

"Let’s make privacy a key part of all our job descriptions, in the public and private sectors. Make it an international achievement to meet a new global standard in privacy."

Noting that privacy isn't free, Chapman said, "Let's understand the tradeoffs and not react to false fears and make ghost towns of virtual malls on the Internet before they are built or impede medical progress and treatment while patient information gathers dust in overprotected files.

"Let's use technology for all it's worth. Not to threaten, but to safeguard privacy with digital signatures, privacy filters, encryption.

"And let's reach out to the future and educate our kids." Chapman pointed to a program that Equifax pioneered in 1996, called the Youth Enlightenment Series (Y.E.S.) -- an innovative program that teaches kids to manage personal finances and deal with privacy of their information. "Since pioneering the program in 13 schools in Atlanta," Chapman said, " the program is now in 350 schools in 27 states and has reached 35,000 students."

"We hold in our hands the opportunity to create a new environment for global commerce. Not with bricks and mortar, but with information and knowledge. We have the opportunity to create a real sense of global community by using technology as our friend, information as a lubricant for commerce, and knowledge as the framework for change," Chapman concluded.

EQUIFAX (NYSE: EFX) is a worldwide leader in shaping global commerce by bringing buyers and sellers together through its information, transaction processing, consulting and knowledge-based businesses. Equifax serves the banking, financial, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities, transportation and healthcare industries and government. Founded in 1899, Atlanta-based Equifax today has 14,000 employees in 18 countries and sales in more than 45 countries. Revenues for the 12 months ended September 30, 1998, were more than $1.5 billion. For more Equifax information, visit the company’s Internet web site at http://www.equifax.com.

Statements in this press release that relate to future plans, objectives, expectations, performance, events and the like are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Future events, risks and uncertainties, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Those factors could include worldwide and U.S. economic conditions, changes in demand for the company’s products and services, risks associated with the integration of acquisitions and other investments, and other factors discussed in the "forward-looking information" section in the management’s discussion and analysis included in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997.