¶ … Integrity: Privacy Protection in e-Commerce Websites
Privacy Protection in e-Commerce Websites
Back in the 90s, websites were more or less digital brochures that did little more than serve their registered users with monthly electronic newsletters. Today, however, websites are powerful and complex information platforms that not only store and process data, but also allow for the sharing of information across a wide range of online platforms. We share personal data on these websites, and unfortunately, the same passes on to numerous other parties, compromising our own security as well as that of our families in the process. The situation is even worse in the case of e-commerce websites. Whilst they have made shopping a whole lot easier by bringing specialty retail within a few clicks, they have also sprawled up opportunities for thieves who now find it a whole lot easier to obtain personal information and credit card numbers from unsuspecting shoppers. A 2001 study by Culnan (as cited in Ackerman & Davis, 2003) found that the reason most people provide false information on e-commerce websites is because they either do not believe that their information is well-protected from unscrupulous persons or because they feel that they have very little control over how their personal data is used by businesses. For this reason, companies are increasingly adopting fair information practices directed towards safeguarding user information. This text outlines some of the fundamental privacy protection features put in place by some key e-commerce companies to protect information revealed on their corporate websites.
Privacy Protection Features
Privacy Controls
In a bid to address the problem of users not having control over the information they reveal on e-commerce websites, companies have adopted privacy control features that give users substantial control and specificity over data-sharing activities performed on their corporate websites. Most websites allow users to choose whether or not to provide personal information, and also define whether or not they wish to receive legal notice or terms of use from the company. More sophisticated websites such as Amazon.com actually give the user the power to decide whether the information they provide can be used to personalize advertisements displayed to them (Amazon, 2014). Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com grant their users substantial control over the acceptance or rejection of cookies (Barnes & Noble, 2014).
Privacy Policies
A company's privacy policy is meant to communicate its privacy practices to outsiders. It is often a lengthy document detailing among other things, the personal information that the company collects, reasons why such information is collected, the manner in which such information is collected, how the company uses such information, how such information is secured, who it is shared with, and so on (Amazon, 2014; Barnes & Noble, 2014). Privacy policies go a long way in helping website users understand the inherent data relationships on the site. The FTC requires all websites to have a privacy policy, and as such, it advises users to i) look for a privacy policy whenever they are asked to provide personal information or register onto a website, and ii) ask the company to post the same in case they cannot find one.
Security Seals
Any website that treats personal information provided by its users ethically will put in place stringent measures to ensure that its third party providers, who also have access to the information, treat it in a manner that does not compromise the privacy and security of users. Third party seals are meant to ensure that third party providers, affiliated to the primary corporation, take personal information entrusted to them by users seriously. The five classes of security seals common in e-commerce websites, and their respective security assurance indices on a scale of 1-5 are listed below:
Reliability website seals: these vouch for the company's identity by validating its email addresses, telephone number(s), and mailing addresses. They simply give an assurance that the company is indeed what it claims to be (TRUSTe, 2014). Towards this end, they signify that the entity is an incorporated company. However, reliability seals have an extremely low security guarantee index (1 of 5) - first because they provide no information on how the company uses its users' personal information, and secondly, because they provide no safeguards barring fake companies from setting up fake contacts and posing as legitimate entities. Comodo Authenticity and BBB Online Reliability Seal are two of the most commonly-used reliability seals in e-commerce websites (TRUSTe, 2014).
Security seals (SSL Certification): these include GeoTrust, Comodo, and VeriSign. They seek to validate that an entity has SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protection safeguarding...
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