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Over the past decade, numerous surveys conducted around the world have found
consistently high levels of concern about privacy. Many studies (Dorney, 1997;
Allard, 1998; Harris and Westin, 1999) found that more than 80% of Net users are
concerned about threats to their privacy while online. The Federal Trade
Commission discovered (Privacy online: A report to Congress/Federal Trade
Commission, United States, Federal Trade Commission, 1998) that many Web
sites collect personal information and release the same without the users’
knowledge and permission.
There are methods (Adam et al., 1996; Verton, 2000; Wen, 2001; McGuire,
2000; Feghhi, 1999) that make cyber shopping secure, although consumers may
still have concerns about security aspects of cyber shopping. How can one keep
information about his/her Internet browsing habits to oneself? It’s a challenge in this
era of technological advancements. In this chapter, we focus exclusively on privacy
issues that arise in cyber shopping. In the recent past, many articles on privacy have
appeared in journals. In this chapter, we review these publications on privacy.
PRIVACY CONCERNS
Privacy is
currently front-page news and is the focus of much legislative
activity. The privacy issue has been dominant since the passage of the Federal
Privacy Act and similar state laws in the mid -70s and has created a legal
battleground of conflicting expectations. On the one hand, employees assert that
their privacy rights are being trampled upon by employers, while employers claim
the need to protect business assets from employee abuse. The ability to shop
online—anytime, anywhere—is drastically changing the way consumers shop and
have added more dimensions to privacy. Privacy refers to controlling the dissemi-
nation and use of data, including information that is knowingly disclosed as well as
data that are unintentionally revealed or a by-product of the information technolo-
gies themselves (Cate, 1997).
Cyber shopping is growing every year, and it is estimated that by 2010, 55%
of retail sales will come from cyber shopping. While this may be great for