"There is this myth that privacy stifles innovation. It helps to reassure consumers, therefore encourages innovation," he said.
Meanwhile media executive Peter Bazalgette argued that people should have the right to delete data to give them a clean slate from, for instance, compromising pictures on social networks.
At the same time, some would choose to share more information. "Individuals will sell personal data in return for content," he said.
Not everyone felt that Google Dashboard went far enough when it came to protecting personal data.
What people really need is a "dashboard for their lives", argued David Alexander, director of Mydex, a social enterprise that is designing a platform where people can manage all the data they share with others.
Creating such a "personal data eco-system" would allow people "to stand on an equal footing with government and big corporations", when it comes to data sharing, he said.
Mr Alexander suggested that Google would be very welcome to sign up to it but that it would have to agree not to share information with advertisers.