Yesterday, I headed over to the Conservative Bloggers Briefing at Heritage for the first time in well... way too long.

It was a good one though. Senator Jim DeMint was the headliner - there to discuss the stimulus bill and Fox News was there with two cameras to get his comments.

I've seen Sen. DeMint speak several times, and he knows how to deliver a solid conservative message. He didn't disappoint yesterday. A few of his quips include:

On the stimulus bill:

This is not change you can believe in. This is business as usual.

On being rushed by the White House to vote on the bailouts and the stimulus bill:

When someone says, you need to make a decision "right now”. My answer is automatically "no".

DeMint's call to action was clear - look at the stimulus bill and help us pick it apart. You can check out the House version of the bill at www.ReadTheStimulus.org.

Appealing to Conservatives on Privacy Issues
The other speakers that I found particularly interesting were from a new think tank called The Future of Privacy Forum.

Jules Polonetsky, co-chair of the forum, talked about where privacy was heading in the digital age and how he thought the Federal government could better protect consumer privacy online.

Polonetsky, who appeared very well-caffeinated with a brook-no-fools demeanor, has spent his career working for leading web firms (AOL and DoubleClick) advising on privacy practices. He also advised the Giuliani and later Obama campaigns on their internet/tech agendas. Clearly, he knows what he's talking about.

I asked him what steps he thought the government should take to better regulate consumer privacy online. He referenced a recent post on their website that lays out a "Consumer Privacy Agenda for the New Administration".

Some highlights include:

1. Appoint a Chief Privacy Officer to Promote Fair Information Practices in the Public and Private Sectors.

2. Ensure that Interactive Tools used by Government Provide Users with Enhanced Transparency and Controls.

7. Encourage Accountable Business Models.

He also touched on the dust-up over the new www.WhiteHouse.gov site placing cookies on site visitors' computers. His take:

Calm down. Take a pill, relax. Then launch a process to decide how to have web 2.0 sites in the government, but maintain users' privacy.

Good advice in my opinion.

I think the hard question for conservatives is whether to support additional government regulation (Oh no, big government!) or trust private companies to self-regulate (big brother, anybody?).

My inclination in this case is to support limited, sensible steps aimed at insuring personal privacy online. But the flip-side to this view, is that liberals could use these "sensible" steps as a trojan horse to ram through much more onerous government regulations.

But what do you think? Leave a comment and let me know you thoughts.