DoubleClick guards individuals privacy to a great extent, because they do not store personal information as cookies for them to be easily traced and they only give out the information if the consumers has agreed for this to happen. The consumers will not receive a great deal of ‘spam’ mail because they would have agreed to receive the emails that they are getting. Also if consumers do feel that their privacy has been invaded they can email the company to complain or contact TRUSTe.
Amazon.co.uk is an online shopping Website, which sells a vast range of products including, books, electronic products, music, DVD’s, video’s, toys etc. They are committed to protecting their customers’ privacy. According to Amazon, the company uses the information collected on the site to make shopping with them promising and to improve the customers’ overall shopping experience.
In the company’s privacy policy they state that they do not sell, trade or rent customers personal information to others, although they may choose to do so in the future with trustworthy third parties. Also, Amazon states that their cookies (small pieces of information that are stored by the web user’s browser on their computer’s hard drive) do not contain any personally identifying information.
In regards to how well Amazon protects individual privacy, they do sometimes ask customers to provide their telephone numbers, which may be given to their couriers for international deliveries. They also keep track of individual’s personal shopping habits to enable them to shape their recommendations and they monitor customer traffic patterns and site usage to help them develop the design and layout of the store. Amazon also state in their privacy policy that they may use the personal information collected to notify customers about important functionality changes to the Website, but they ensure that if the customer would rather not receive this information they can opt out.
So exactly how does Amazon.co.uk protect customer information? Well when customers place orders or access their account information, they offer the use of a secure server. The secure server software (SSL) encrypts all information that is input before it is sent to Amazon. Also, as required by the UK Data Protection Legislation, Amazon follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information which the customers have given to them, to prevent unauthorised access. Their security procedures mean that they may occasionally request proof of identity before they are able to disclose sensitive information. (Amazon, 1996)
Microsoft is committed to protecting their customer’s privacy. Most sites can be visited without having to give out personal information. But sometimes information needs to be given to provide certain services that the customers requests. Microsoft’s privacy policy consists of informing the customers about the collection of their personal information, the control, access, security of their personal information, their use of cookies and their enforcement of their privacy statement.
Microsoft protects individual privacy to a great extent. When personal information is provided, Microsoft may combine site-visitation data to provide the customer with a personalised content, but this has to be approved by the customer first in order for them to proceed. If the customer declines the offer, Microsoft will not merge their personal information with the site-visitation data. Also, customer’s personal information can be passed on to a third party in order to make deliveries, but they are prohibited from using the information for any other purpose. Customers can also not accept the transfer of their information to be stored and processed in the US and they can choose not to have their browser accept Microsoft’s cookies. (Microsoft, 2002)
iVillage is the leading provider of solutions for women online. Consumers of the Website can read their privacy policy in order to find out the two types of information that iVillage collects, which are the information that is provided to iVillage and the information gathered by them. They then go on to talk about the various different circumstances in which information has to be collected from consumers. They also explain their information sharing and opt-in/opt-out policies in great detail. iVillage talks about their privacy policy regarding children as they take this very seriously.
So how do iVillage protect and secure the consumers information? iVillage, 2002 state that they have numerous security measures in place to protect the consumers from the loss, misuse and alteration of their information under their control, including any credit card information if the consumer chooses to conduct an e-commerce transaction on the iVillage Network. All of their member information, as well as other sensitive areas like the free iVillage email account, require use of the consumer’s password. They recommend that consumers do not share their password with anyone. iVillage uses industry-standard tools, such as firewalls (hardware and software whose purpose is to block access to certain resources), to ensure that your information is secure and confidential.
Each of these Websites explains their privacy policies in their own way, but they have to ensure that they are easily understandable to the consumers who are accessing the sites. Whilst looking at the sites in great detail I have come to the conclusion that the worst presented privacy policy was on the DoubleClick website. This was because I found the policy to be very brief; none of the stated points went into any great detail, which would make it very hard to understand without having to ask further questions. It is also hard to believe because it looks as though not a lot of time was spent on it. The second website iVillage was not very well presented, this was because it was very long. This would make it hard for the user to read without feeling confused, it was filled with jargon that a non-computer literate person would find hard to understand. The policy needed to be much more focused. The second best policy was that of Amazon.co.uk. It was well presented, with bullet points separating the information. It was quite easy to follow and you gain a great deal of information, without it being too hard to absorb. I found that Microsoft had the best policy as it was very well presented, making it easy for the user to follow. It was easily understandable and it explained everything without included too much jargon.
In terms of the way in which the Websites have been ranked (above), there do seem to be significant differences between .com and .co.uk Websites. Microsoft.co.uk was ranked as having the best privacy policy and it is the only .co.uk Website listed. The other .com companies fell short of the top mark because they were either far too wordy and unfocused or far too brief.
(Word Count – 1496)
References
Internet
Amazon (1996) Privacy Policy [online]. Available from: [Accessed 18/11/02]
DoubleClick. (2002) Privacy Policy [online]. Available from: [Accessed 18/11/02]
iVillage. (2002) Privacy Policy for iVillage Inc. [online]. Available from: [Accessed 18/11/02]
Microsoft. (2002) Privacy Statement [online]. Available from: [Accessed 18/11/02]
Books
Agranoff, M. H. (1993) Information Systems Management: Controlling the Threat to Personal Privacy
Turban et al. (2000) Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective. London: Prentice-Hall International
