Dichotomies between individuals' attitudes and behaviors have been noted in the privacy literature. In this article the author draws on behavioral economics research to investigate individuals' decision-making processes with respect to privacy in electronic commerce. He shows that it is unrealistic to expect individual rationality in this context. The modeling of problems of self-control and immediate gratification offers a more realistic description of the decision-making process, which is more consistent with currently available data. The author maintains that individuals who may genuinely want to protect their privacy are unable to do so, due to psychological distortions, which the behavioral literature has studied in depth.