Internet Privacy Needs Standards
Privacy is an amorphous concept, say nalysts. A combination of policy and technology could overcome some of the complexity
28 March 2001, 2 pm GMT
Companies collect information on employees,
clients and customers to operate more efficiently, but in ecommerce companies collect and store data to provide better service.
DoubleClick,Amazon.com and Toysmart faced a backlash of consumer outrage and government investigations for practices involving passing on personal information to third parties.
At the same time, exposure of FBI’s Carnivore, eSniff and Web bugs proved that data devices watch what you are watching online.
The current version of Carnivore appears to only scan email, planned versions should also be able to reconstruct Web
pages and listen to voice over Web conversations.
"We find this all a bit creepy" says Zona.
"The FBI makes the claim that Carnivore protects privacy, as it automatically sorts through data that otherwise would be subjected to human eyes.
Esniff’s employee monitoring device is also disconcerting. However, we believe employers may find it increasingly sensible to monitor employee emails and Web activity, if not to take the high moral ground than to save their own skin. Esniff cites a Chevron employee who sued for $2.2 million upon receiving an inappropriateate email from a coworker" says the research company.
The adoption of privacy seals like Trust-e and BBBOnLine help generate a sense of cohesive
privacy standards but they will have to be complemented by technical solutions
P3P, the Platform for Privacy Preference, should automate user Web site selection by standardizing privacy practices.
but requiring companies to standardize their policies,and waiting for the platform to be reasonably sophisticated to satisfy user requirements may take a while.
"Microsoft’s IE 6 will offer P3P functionality,
allowing users to choose whether to accept or
reject cookies based on the third party’s compact policy, giving five different options. While its great to be able to choose, some choices, like the choice between the hangman’s noose or the electric chair, leave something to be desired: namely, the ability to control one’s own environment and the choices presented" says Zona
CPExchange Network, a volunteer consortium
made up of over 70 leading ebusiness organiza-tions, is offering a vendor-neutral, open-standard for exchanging privacy-enabled customer information across different businesses and computer systems. Chaired by IBM, it may increase transparency between both businesses and users to eliminate much of the uncertainty and turmoil surrounding online data exchange.
www.zonaresearch.com
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