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***
Privacy will always be an issue.
As the convenience of internet shopping/browsing increases, we will be using such
services more. Companies will continue to be tempted to exploit their data assets
for whatever benefits interested parties will offer. The key will be accountability,
legal or otherwise.
The problem is exacerbated when a company goes out
of business (e-Toys), sees their data assets as the potential financial revenue
product is and are moved by creditors/liquidators to raise money by whatever means
necessary. Out of desperation, the
Beleaguered Company has to consider selling.
My point is, even with the
most sophisticated security software to protect data in transmission or storage;
the ultimate potential breach lies with the company transmitting/collecting/storing
the data. Morally, a company sworn to keep such information
confidential should do so. However, it seems that whenever money enters the picture,
moral and sometimes legal promises take a very rear seat.
So once again,
the issues of whether an organization can be trusted with such coveted information,
whether the information is the property of the organization or a non-transferable
asset of the consumer - retractable at
any time, still needs to be addressed.
I believe the privacy issue will always be a problem with e-commerce simply
because there are continuing efforts to learn more and more about us as consumers.
E-commerce can not thrive without having the knowledge and ability to attract
business. Further, most consumers are legitimately concerned about personal data
being used for unintended purposes.
How does one force a company to keep
its promises? What will it take to assure consumers the privacy agreement is an
inviolable covenant?
( ***
Technology provides us with dynamic tools
to understand more about a customer in real time than we had available a
few years ago. Not everyone is comfortable with the existence of the tools
or the potential misapplication
of the information. Privacy concerns will initially increase for the next year
and then decrease. Today, there is a double standard which
is being applied to the internet.
Mail order and catalog firms have been using these types of tools for years. Just buy something from a catalog...and see how many catalogs
arrive in your mailbox, your name has been sold, your preferences noted and even
your frequency and income tagged. Doing this on line is considered "out of
line", while I strongly support privacy standards and would never sell or
release our customers' data, I do
think it strange that the press is not looking at the entire issue of information
privacy, not just internet privacy!
() ***|Because
personal data is personal property, people should be empowered to control and
benefit from its
use. The technology is available. Giving privacy power to
the people builds confidence in e-commerce, and gives e-marketers valuable insights.
Vendors realize that if they can develop relationships with consumers who want
to share information with them, consumers will be more loyal to them, and will
give more accurate information.
(Jon Koerselman, Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
USA) ***
1. I see privacy concerns increasing as more
on-line users become more educated about the Internet in general (e.g., learning
about cookies), and in particular more aware of what firms are doing with personal
information.
Front-page news stories such as the ones about DoubleClick fuel
the fire, and the lack of consistency in privacy policies is bound to lead to
general skittishness for surfers.
2. Whether privacy concerns will increase
or decrease will depend on the level of media coverage and on whether or not significant
new technologies relating to privacy (either protecting it or defeating it) are
introduced. Another
factor may be marketing -- companies that vigilantly protect
the privacy of their customers may create enough of a groundswell to bring about
de facto standards for privacy protection.
3. Education is the key to
increasing privacy levels. If web users don't know that their personal information
is being distributed, they won't take action -- ignorance is bliss. But if high-profile
sites use the privacy issue to their
marketing advantage (i.e., to position
themselves as better than competitors who do not respect privacy, or at least
fail to state a firm policy), customers will pay attention to the issue, and,
by taking their business elsewhere, will punish companies
that fail to make privacy protection a core value.
(Jim Schibler, Senior Technical
Marketer, Palo Alto, California, USA) ***
Privacy
concerns are definitely increasing for the simple fact that more individuals are
utilizing on-line products. Most services have been available for some time now
but not necessarily used. More and more, the customer is being given an option
to either use e-business or pay additional charges for the original manual process.
A prime example is on-line banking. Who wants to make their bank account available
on the net for any reputable hacker to access? This will certainly affect the
diehard older generation who are used to doing their banking the old fashioned
way.
() ***
Increasing. In addition to spam email, one's regular mail is filled with advertising
junk mail, and when you purchase almost any product today that seller is trying
to sell you something else in its product line, or some product from a partner
company. I even found advertising
on the ATM screen when I withdrew cash the other day. I object to being inundated
with advertising when I try to carry out an every day transaction such as reading
my email or getting cash from an ATM. I consider this invasion of privacy to be
similar to someone breaking into a private phone conversation. I believe many
people consider this an invasion of privacy and have a response similar to road
rage. I know that I am experiencing
a feeling of road rage with all this unsolicited advertising. I
would like to see ways to stop unsolicited advertising.
Possibly people could make a point of not purchasing from companies that
invade their privacy.
() ***
Privacy concerns are definitely on the increase. I think more and more people
do NOT visit web sites because of security concerns. Also, I believe if more people
knew just how much information is gathered on the web, they'd REALLY have a fit.
It seems more people are aware in Europe and the outcry over there is much bigger. Because
of the drive to increase the bottom line, companies will always try to get away
with whatever they can. Capitalism is amoral; it will do whatever is necessary
to drive its single motivation: profit. Unless businesses can keep the public
in the blind about how much they know, concerns will increase. People
should have the right to set their level of privacy and what information is given
away. There could be a great business in creating a company that becomes the gateway
to access to people (call them Single Marketing Units). In other words, whether
you wanted to reach me via email, snail mail, telephone, or whatever, that access
would be controlled by that company. And only through the accesses I would grant.
Their business model would be to only allow the types of information that people
WANT to intrude into their lives. For that matter, it would allow me to market
that access. You'd have to pay that company to gain access to me. And those profits
could be shared with the SMUs.
(Doug Greene, Scotts Valley, California, USA)
***
The public will be come more and more
concerned with privacy as an issue to eCommerce. While further user education
and industry self-policing will help to eliminate some of these concerns some
legislation will be
pasted. Look
to the FTC to lead this charge. Ultimately the privacy issue will turn to a competitive
advantage for some companies as consumers flock to brands they trust. Companies
will not remain viable in the long-term unless they take steps to built trust
with their customers. Customers are willing to share personal information, if
they feel they are getting something in return for this information and they trust
whom they are dealing with. Remember open communication with your customers is
the key to building that foundation of trust.
(
***
Increasing - With the ever increasing
number of internet users coupled with greater internet exposures, users are exposed
to a larger variety of internet sites. This exposure places the users in a far
vulnerable position to unknowingly divulge personal and confidential information.
The sheer knowledge of the risk of divulging personal information has made users
feel uncomfortable and become concerned of this occurrence
With the maturing of e-business and the
use of standards like WAP, users will be transacting a lot more via the internet.
The releasing of certain personal information will result in users wanting greater
control and comfort over the user of this information. A
great need for legislature and ethics is required for all internet related transactions.
In addition, users should be educated regarding how and when they should release
personal information on the Net. Countries leading the
Internet growth (USA,
EC etc) should take the lead regarding formalizing ethics on the Net and jointly
prepare appropriate legislature protecting both the Internet user and e-business
parties.
(Mohsien Hassim, Manager - Information Risk Management, KPMG, Johannesburg,
SOUTH AFRICA) ***
We are finding
that people seem comfortable with the security that you can supply with an e-commerce
solution for businesses. However, everybody wants to talk about security and the
importance of security to their business. I think that it is good that people
are aware and are talking about security issues. It makes me believe that each
of our customers is seriously looking at the internet for more and more of their
day to day business needs.
I
am not a technical person, but we have enabled our customers to have any level
of security that they want or need. For example a supplier may have a different
pricing structure for different customers. This information has to be conveyed
over the internet and the supplier customer must have the confidence that the
information is going only to the party it is intended. When this is obtained with
almost 100% certainty, security will become a non issue.
(Art Hamilton)
***
Increasing, but, very slowly. People still
are very unclear about when to give out information and when not. They feel that
giving out personal info is the only way to get something. Accept Cookies are
turned on for everyone as they want less hindrance when browsing. But, some merchants
use this and suck all the info they can. People still feel comfortable about providing
credit card #s on the web without knowing how they will be safeguarded. Privacy
concerns will increase, but very slowly. This is because the people are not educated
about the online world. Provide courses to adults and
especially school kids who are now connected about safely using the internet and
configuring browsers & software on their computers. They should be told what
is the right and what could be wrong. Explain to them what it means to say - "accept
cookies from originating server", etc. If there is awareness amongst youngsters,
they will teach their parents and hence privacy can be increased.
(Shivaram
H. Mysore, Software Engineer) ***
Security on the internet is the most important issue facing the future of e-commerce.
How to define security on internet and investigate the major security issues,
particularly for e-eCommerce. Access the current state of internet security.
What developments are in progress to improve security? Do you think that
these developments will succeed? Justify
your answer. ***
Privacy concerns are
increasing, because traditional media (press, TV) exaggerate every single privacy
problem much more than it is important and almost all newcomers to the internet
believe them. Privacy will decrease, because the people
will be better educated with what to do to avoid privacy problems and probably
new technologies will be implemented to help them. Digital
Signature laws should be implemented by all countries. After that the next generation
of Internet browsers should have some kind of ID built in and should be much more
customizable for the user to interact with the
websites in a way adjustable
to the level of trust.
(Piotr Syrycki) ***
Privacy concerns are bound to decrease as US which is on the forefront had been
enabling
framing laws to curtail information being misused. Goverments across
continents should evolve a generic package with mutual consents as G7 tried to
frame for the Internet.
(P.H., Hyderabad, INDIA)
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