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make conclusions that are based on fragmentary information, society as a whole
loses out, leading to potentially small-minded and dangerous results.
It has been observed that in an online environment, there is much unreliable
information available. Researchers (Linowes, 1996) found that more than 70% of
Net users always provide false information about themselves and hide their real
identity. They see this as the convenient way to protect their privacy. While it may
be a convenient way to protect privacy, it may allow an information broker to
divulge wrong information about them that can create problems. That is why even
today many data miners do not fully trust the Internet as a good resource of
information because they feel that the information divulged is not accurate.
Knowing all these online privacy concerns of consumers, it is expected that
companies will move toward self-regulation and mutual cooperation (Wazeka,
2000). Many companies have taken initiatives toward this, but the Enonymous.com
survey, released in April 2000, revealed that among the 1,000 busiest Web sites,
63% post some sort of policy, but many do not provide a great deal of protection
(Lehman, 2000). In May 2000, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recom-
mended to Congress that it extend new powers to control the way companies
collect and use personal information through the Internet because most of the Web
sites are not implementing self-regulatory measures and are defying core privacy
principles. It is expected that the FTC will play an important role in auditing cyber
shopping sites and will set the guidelines from time to time in the future (Gillin,
2000b).
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
IPR includes copying, editing, morphing software piracy, unlicensed distribu-
tion of copyright music and otherwise manipulating information. Everyday there are
millions of people who download or copy information without acknowledging the
authors. At times the same information is modified and sold under a different name.
Software piracy is another menace and yet still prevalent. Net users are becoming
aware that Web sites may be encroaching on their privacy by collecting information
thus infringing upon IPR. Realizing that the subject of IPR and copyrights need to