Progress in Internet Privacy Policies

2011 ◽  
pp. 224-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan R. Peslak
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Federal Trade Commission ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Privacy Policies ◽  
Internet Privacy ◽  
Fair Information Practices ◽  
Information Practices

Privacy on the Internet has been of increasing concern with the explosive growth of electronic commerce. A series of past surveys by the Federal Trade Commission and other organizations measured the implementation of fair information practices and industry self-regulation of privacy. This report includes two important additional factors in the review—enforcement and simplicity. Using historical studies and this more comprehensive analysis, this article reviews the current Internet privacy polices of the 50 largest U.S. companies in 2003 and updates this review for 2006.

Protecting Privacy Online: Is Self-Regulation Working?

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary J. Culnan
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Federal Trade Commission ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Progress Report ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Privacy Policy ◽  
Consumer Privacy ◽  
Fair Information Practices ◽  
Information Practices

The author assesses the extent to which 361 consumer-oriented commercial Web sites post disclosures that describe their information practices and whether these disclosures reflect fair information practices. Although approximately 67% of the sites sampled post a privacy disclosure, only 14% of these disclosures constitute a comprehensive privacy policy. The study was initiated by the private sector as a progress report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and is one in a series of efforts designed to assess whether consumer privacy can be protected through industry self-regulation or whether legislation is required. Although the FTC does not recommend legislation at this time, the study suggests that an effective self-regulatory regime for consumer privacy online has yet to emerge.

Internet Privacy Policies of the Largest International Companies in 2004 and 2006

2008 ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Alan R. Peslak ◽  
Norbert Jurkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Internet Usage ◽  
Privacy Policy ◽  
Privacy Policies ◽  
Internet Privacy ◽  
Fair Information Practices ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
Information Practices ◽  
The Right ◽  
Privacy Issues ◽  
International Companies

This article is a review of Internet privacy policies of the world’s largest companies. The report begins with a background on the right to privacy and privacy issues arising out of Internet usage. Attempts to regulate Internet privacy and self-regulatory effectiveness are also reviewed. The methodology for this study is to update and extend Internet privacy analysis by analyzing websites of the largest international companies (the Forbes International 100) for inclusion of fair information practices. In addition, a collection of consumer centered practices is defined and studied. The study was initially done in 2004 but the same companies were revisited and reviewed in 2006. Though there was some improvement in results over the approximately two year period, the general finding remains that within the Forbes International 100, fair information practices and consumer centered privacy policies are not being closely followed. It is also found that large US firms are more likely to publish a privacy policy on their website than non-US firms. Finally, if a large international firm does publish a privacy policy on its website, the level of compliance with fair information practices and consumer centered policies is not significantly different between US and non-US firms. Implications of the study for researchers and practitioners are reviewed.

Web Privacy

2008 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
A. Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Personal Privacy ◽  
Internet Privacy ◽  
Individual Privacy ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
The Web

People all over the world increasingly are concerned about the privacy issues surrounding the personal information collected by private organizations, governments and employers. Privacy relates to issues regarding collection, secure transmission, storage, authorized access, usage, and disclosure of personal information. This information is used for commercial gain by many organizations..Individual privacy concerns significantly affects consumer willingness to engage in electronic commerce over the Internet. The increased use of the Internet and Web for everyday activities is bringing new threats to personal privacy. This chapter assessed various issues related to individual privacy on the Web, growing concerns among the Web users, technologies employed for collecting and protecting information on the Web, privacy-enhancing technologies and the legal provisions to curb the Web privacy. This chapter also reported detailed discussion about Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P), its structure, present scenario of its implementation and its future success. Global consistency on Internet privacy protection is important to promote the growth of electronic commerce. To protect consumers in a globally consistent manner, legislation, self-regulation, technical solutions and combination solutions are different ways that can be implemented

Internet Privacy and Security: An Examination of Online Retailer Disclosures

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Miyazaki ◽  
Ana Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Federal Trade Commission ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Consumer Perceptions ◽  
Consumer Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Retailer ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Internet Privacy ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk

The Federal Trade Commission has declared the privacy and security of consumer information to be two major issues that stem from the rapid growth in e-commerce, particularly in terms of consumer-related commerce on the Internet. Although prior studies have assessed online retailer responses to privacy and security concerns with respect to retailers’ disclosure of their practices, these studies have been fairly general in their approaches and have not explored the potential for such disclosures to affect consumers. The authors examine online retailer disclosures of various privacy- and security-related practices for 17 product categories. They also compare the prevalence of disclosures to a subset of data from a consumer survey to evaluate potential relationships between online retailer practices and consumer perceptions of risk and purchase intentions across product categories.

scholarly journals An Imbalance Of Power: The Readability Of Internet Privacy Policies

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rochelle A. Cadogan
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Case Study ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Privacy Policy ◽  
Privacy Policies ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Internet Privacy ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

The gap is growing. While collection techniques by today’s business marketing professionals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, there is also an alarming lack of knowledge by Internet sur-fers about how companies track their online movements and use the information. The privacy policy is the document that provides the information regarding how the organization handles the dataflow in their organizations. The policy should answer the consumer’s question, “What is being done with the information that I provide when I am on the Internet?” But how understandable are these policies? This research project is a multiple case study in which the privacy policies of three organizations are evaluated in terms of their readability and their user-friendliness. The three online organizations selected include PrivacyAlliance.org, Dell.com, and Amazon.com.

Electronic Commerce and Data Privacy

2003 ◽  
pp. 213-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Henderson ◽  
Charles A. Snyder ◽  
Terry A. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Privacy Policies ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Consumer Privacy

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has had a profound effect on the way we conduct business. It has impacted economies, markets, industry structures, and the flow of products through the supply chain. Despite the phenomenal growth of e-commerce and the potential impact on the revenues of businesses, there are problems with the capabilities of this technology. Organizations are amassing huge quantities of personal data about consumers. As a result, consumers are very concerned about the protection of their personal information and they want something done about the problem.This study examined the relationships between consumer privacy concerns, actual e-commerce activity, the importance of privacy policies, and regulatory preference. Using a model developed from existing literature and theory, an online questionnaire was developed to gauge the concerns of consumers. The results indicated that consumers are concerned about the protection of their personal information and feel that privacy policies are important. Consumers also indicated that they preferred government regulation to industry self-regulation to protect their personal information.

Implementation of Privacy Protection Policies

2011 ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Noushin Ashrafi ◽  
Jean-Pierre Kuilboer
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Privacy Protection ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Fair Information Practices ◽  
Internet Industry ◽  
Internet Users

Based on U.S. census data, more than three quarter of Internet users are concerned about having control over the release of their private information when using online services. To ease consumers’ concerns, the Internet industry has come up with self-regulatory practices. The effectiveness of self-regulatory practices and the commitment of the Internet industry to online privacy are yet to be evaluated. The questions regarding self-regulation, what it means from the industry point of view, and to what extent it is implanted remains unclear. This study is exploratory in nature and attempts to examine privacy issues in the context of fair information practices and how they are perceived and practiced by the top 500 interactive companies in the United States. Our results confirm that most companies ask for consumer trust by claiming benevolence. However, they fall short when it comes to costly implementations of comprehensive privacy protection policies.

Electronic Commerce and Data Privacy

2011 ◽  
pp. 89-113
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Henderson ◽  
Charles A. Snyder ◽  
Terry A. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Privacy Policies ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Consumer Privacy

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has had a profound effect on the way we conduct business. It has impacted economies, markets, industry structures, and the flow of products through the supply chain. Despite the phenomenal growth of e-commerce and the potential impact on the revenues of businesses, there are problems with the capabilities of this technology. Organizations are amassing huge quantities of personal data about consumers. As a result, consumers are very concerned about the protection of their personal information and they want something done about the problem. This study examined the relationships between consumer privacy concerns, actual e-commerce activity, the importance of privacy policies, and regulatory preference. Using a model developed from existing literature and theory, an online questionnaire was developed to gauge the concerns of consumers. The results indicated that consumers are concerned about the protection of their personal information and feel that privacy policies are important. Consumers also indicated that they preferred government regulation to industry self-regulation to protect their personal information.

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