Internet
InternetOne of the most important advances in the rapidly
developing world of electronic commerce is the
ability of companies to develop personalized
relationships with their customers.
Personalization empowers companies to better
understand their customers’ wants and desires and
improve customer service by tailoring offerings to
the unique needs of individuals . At the same
time, this has become a subject of hot controversy
because the technology involves the extensive
collection and use of personal data. Many, if not
most, online shoppers and surfers are not aware of
the extent of how much and what kind of info can
be gathered about a person, even someone who is
just visiting and not shopping or signing up for
anything. Through the use of the “cookie”
technology, a person’s movement through the Web
can be tracked to provide information. Using
cookies a website assigns each individual a unique
identifier (but not the actual identity), so that
the he may be recognized in subsequent visits to
the site. On each return visit, the site can call
up user-specific information, which could include
the consumer’s preferences or interests, as
indicated by documents the consumer accessed in
prior visits or items the consumer clicked on
while in the site. Websites can also collect
information about consumers through hidden
electronic navigational software that captures
information about site visits, including web pages
visited and information downloaded, the types of
browser used, and the referring websites’ Internet
addresses. The result is that a website about
gardening that Jane Doe that could sell not only
her name to mail-order companies, but also the
fact that she spent a lot of time one Saturday
night last month reading about how to fertilize
roses. More disturbing scenarios along the same
lines could be imagined.However, although concern
about privacy and security has long been the
biggest issue with online shoppers¾particularly
with the sanctity of their identification-related
information¾a majority do not mind their behavior
being watched if it allows their shopping
experience to be customized. According to the 1999
Personalized Marketing and Privacy on the Net:
What Consumers Want survey conducted by the
non-profit research firm Privacy and American
Business, 61 percent of the 474 Internet users
surveyed said that they would be positive toward
receiving banner ads tailored to their personal
interests rather than receiving random ads. This
represents about 56 million adult users interested
in such personalization. In addition, 68 percent
of the users also said that they would provide
personal information in order to receive tailored
banner ads, on the condition that notice and
opt-out are provided .The study seems to back the
e-commerce firms who are watching online behavior
to provide customized shopping experiences, and
not privacy advocates who say that this practice
is an invasion of privacy. It is the purpose for
gathering the information, it would seem, that...
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