Assessment of Privacy Polls


Assessment of Privacy Polls

Taken as a whole, the 76 questions do an adequate job of addressing four of the five dimensions of the privacy framework. In total, about 10% of the questions addressed the awareness dimension, 21% of the questions addressed the usage dimension, about 13% addressed relationship issues and 28% addressed information sensitivity.

The polls dedicate significant time and space to examining the dimension of information sensitivity, with almost one-third of poll questions asking about privacy perceptions of the collection of different types of information. A range of information types resulted in a range of responses about the information relative to privacy, and although a range of responses are reported , it is possible to see that all information is not the same: certainly directory information appeared to be less of a concern than the collection of financial information and social security numbers .

Although most polls are not directly comparable in terms of changes over time, it appears that the polls do not indicate that Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy over the past five years or so. Only two polling questions showed consistent change over a several year period. There was an increase in the level of disagreement that current laws protect consumer privacy, and an increase in the support for Web sites to provide opt-in opportunities for data collection and usage.

There are some inherent problems with public opinion polls regarding online privacy. Twelve questions define privacy in highly ambiguous terms, and little can be taken away of any relevant meaning for policy makers or online marketers and content providers from these simplistic statements. Even when privacy is somewhat defined, rarely is context provided. For example, when consumers are asked about government accessing or monitoring information, are they asking about accessing information about possible terrorists, or about one's self? The context would be likely to result in different answers from many individuals. Additionally, none of the privacy polls ask questions that involve a discussion or assessment of any type of compensation.

Overall, a single question does not seem appropriate to measure a complex construct like privacy. Few polls offer a range of questions that can help best understand this complex construct and to also begin to overall how consumers feel about privacy. For example, researcher Alan Westin suggested that consumers can be broken into three groups regarding privacy. Fundamentalists, about one-fourth of all consumers, tend to always chose privacy controls over consumer benefits, and thus may be seen as highly concerned with privacy. Pragmatists weigh the benefits of consumer opportunities against the degree of personal information sought. About half of Americans are pragmatists, and they will make decisions based on the value of the exchange of information. The balance of Americans are unconcerned, that is, they forego most privacy claims in exchange for consumer benefits (Federal Trade Commission, 1996). Sheehan took this typology further in her examination of online consumers' perceptions of 15 different information gathering situations, with three situations addressing each of the five privacy dimensions. She found that four groups existed. Alarmed users, about 3% of the online population, are highly concerned about all manner of possible privacy invasions. Wary users, about 43% of the population, had a moderate level of concern with the data collection situations and with certain situations, but were highly concerned about clandestine collection practices. Circumspect users, about 38% of the population, were relatively unconcerned about most information practices, but were highly concerned about the collection of highly sensitive information like Social Security numbers as well as information usage by entities outside of the original entity collecting the information. The balance of consumers, about 16%, was unconcerned with privacy (Sheehan, 2002).

The polls also provide inconclusive evidence as to what online consumers believe can or should be done by government and industry to protect personal information, and depends on how the question is asked. Consumers' views of solutions are also likely to differ based on an individual's orientation toward privacy, that is, those that are overall highly concerned are probably more likely to favor broad government controls, while those with moderate or no privacy concerns may be likely to favor selective government interventions. What is clear from these polls is that consumers want to be in control: finding the best way to provide them with this control is likely to result in public policy decisions in the next few years.

Throughout the literature regarding public policy and privacy, there appear to be three perspectives about privacy protection. The first perspective is that rights of privacy and free speech should be safeguarded through laws that ensure the right to keep personal information private, to send encrypted communications, and to provide the highest level of free-speech protection to the Internet. The second is that consumers, not regulators, should be empowered, to protect their rights by promoting filtering programs that block out material and giving consumers more say in how information is used and collected. The final perspective states that communities should be protected by curbing overly permissive rights: stopping the 'fringe' groups in society that exploit laws that permit them to promote porn and send anonymous messages. Public standards should apply to a public communications medium (Public Agenda, 2003).

During what is traditionally known as the electronics age (1927-present), a number of laws have been passed that limit how information is collected (e.g., the Federal Communication Act making wiretapping without a court order illegal) and used (e.g., the Privacy Act of 1974, which prevents the disclosure of government records concerning individuals without their consent and the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which restricts the ability of federal agencies to match and merge citizens ' records). Other laws restrict the collection of certain types of information (e.g., the Video Privacy Protection Act, which protects confidentiality of individual video rental records).

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted that, 'concerns about privacy online reach even those not troubled by threats to privacy in the online world (Federal Trade Commission, 2000).' The FTC promoted self-regulation of online privacy with a series of workshops beginning in 1995, believing that self-regulation was the least intrusive and most efficient way to ensure fair information practices on the Internet. FTC principles deal with fair information practice: notice, choice, access, security and enforcement. However, the tide has turned. In May 2000, the FTC requested to Congress that new powers be granted to the FTC to control the ways companies collect and use personally identifiable information. This recommendation was based on Web site audits that showed that self-regulation did not appear to be working well, because only 20% of Web sites in the sample and 42% of the most visited Web site had all privacy principles in place on their site. In 2001, though, new FTC Chairman Timothy Muris stated that the FTC would not seek additional consumer privacy legislation, but would instead enforce existing laws and regulations. What this suggests, though, is that the FTC's viewpoint changes with administrations and congressional composition, and the upcoming elections may once again influence how the FTC views privacy legislation.

This study provided inconclusive results on just how consumers would want their privacy to be protected. Some polls found moderate to high levels of agreement that the government should pass laws to protect online privacy, which might lead some to suggest that legislation is the only way to address privacy concerns. However, the high support for opt-in and the findings that consumer education is better than new laws might moderate this legislative fervor.

Pollsters should work with business to develop a deeper understanding of specific consumer concerns. Polls could focus on a single issue (such as online purchasing) and ask a series of questions that would tap into the complexities of online data collection relative to the five dimensions of privacy. For example, a poll could ask if online consumers are more or less willing to purchase from entities that they are familiar with compared to those that they are not familiar with, if they are hesitant about giving some types of information and not about others, and how they would approach these concerns if Web sites offered compensation (such as discounts ) for information provided at Web sites.

There must also be a renewed focus on consumer education by online marketers, content providers, industry groups, government, and pollsters themselves . One study showed that 40% of consumers read privacy statements before providing personal information to Web sites and 30% of online consumers find Web site privacy statements easy to understand (Jupiter, 2002). Consumer campaigns can not only remind consumers to look at the privacy policy, they can also provide information on what certain types of language really mean to consumers. A downloadable brochure that a range of government and industry sites could link to, coupled with a broad reaching advertising promotional campaign, could help.

Additionally, there is evidence that one technique to increase consumer confidence in the privacy of their online activities, industry seal programs (such as TrustE and BBB Online), are not widely understood by online consumers. One study showed that seals were not well noticed. Web site privacy seals may enhance trust, but an individual's involvement with the Web site was a greater predictor of trust than the presence of an 'approved' privacy program. The presence of a privacy seal did not affect likelihood of an individual disclosing personal information, revisiting or making a purchase (Rifon, 2003). Miyazaki and Krishnamurthy (2002) found that seals are limited in their reach of both online users and online entities represented. Additionally, they found seals are not consistent indicators of privacy compliance. However, they did find that many consumers, especially those highly concerned with privacy, connected seals with positive attitudes toward sites' privacy policies. Discussing such seals as part of a greater online consumer education program may provide one way for individuals to become more aware of their own ability to control privacy online.

Public policy makers have heeded polls to the extent that Congress passed the 'Can Spam Act of 2003' which requires pornographic e- mails to be clearly labeled and e-mail marketers to eliminate fake return addresses and misleading subject lines. Additionally, the Act requests that spam e-mail include a mechanism that lets people tell the sender that they do not want to receive any more messages. Several additional bills in Congress that address online privacy include: HR 69, Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, requires the FTC to prescribe regulations to protect the privacy of personal information collected from and about individuals who are not covered by COPPA, to provide greater individual control over collection and use of that information; and HR 70, the Social Security Online Privacy Protection Act, regulates the use by interactive computer services of social security account numbers and related personally identifiable information. HR 69 addresses some key consumer concerns without limiting the activities of those who are less concerned with online privacy. HR 70 addresses third-party usage of what most people consider to be highly sensitive information. Whether these bills become law is yet to be seen, and it is likely future congresses will consider even more privacy legislation.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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