Personalization vs. Privacy Invasion

© 2001 Ann Schlosser, University of Washington Business School

Agenda

• Consumer preferences

• Current state of Web sites’ privacy practices

• Empowering consumers: P3P

Tradeoffs

Information Willing to Share

Exchange Personal Information For Certain Benefits

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

ImprovedCustomer

Serivc

Productdiscounts

Moreproduct

info.

Easierbuying

Advanceinfo. Onproducts

Source: Harris Interactive

Influences on Sharing Information With a Health Web Site

Trust vs. Concern

How do you establish an image of trust?

• Fundamental “forms” to communicate trustworthiness– Brand– Navigation– Fulfillment– Presentation– Up-to-date technology– Logos of security– Address security and privacy concerns

• Clearly-stated policies• Limited information requests• Guarentees• Communication channels

Source: Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient

Prevalence of Privacy Policies

Implementing FTC Fair Information Practices

Consumer Accessibility to Personal Information

Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)

Firm Side User Side

Preference settings

Transparency

• P3P clients can check a privacy policy each time it changes

• P3P clients can check privacy policies on all objects in a web page, including ads and invisible images

http://adforce.imgis.com/?adlink|2|68523|1|146|ADFORCE

http://www.att.com/accessatt/

TrustMeter

Double clicking on the P3P icon indicates wherethe site’s policy differs from the user’s preferences

Searching for a P3P policy

No P3P policy found

P3P policy isNOT acceptable

P3P policy isacceptable

IDcide P3P Icons

Sites can list the typesof data theycollect

And view the correspondingP3P policy

Recommended Sites

• http://www.bbbonline.com

• http://www.etrust.com/

• http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/

• http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/– Acceptable privacy protection for EU

• http://www.w3.org