Nameless in Cyberspace: Protecting Online Privacy: Online Commerce Was Predicted to Become a Key Feature of the Payments System but Privacy Concerns Have Stymied Its Growth. Con Yianakos Outlines How the Financial Services Industry Can Play a Part in Restoring Confidence. (E-Commerce)

Yianakos, Con, Journal of Banking and Financial Services

When shopping in the `real' world, there's generally little conflict between the need for the customer to disclose some information and his or her right to--and expectation of--privacy.

But take out your credit card in the virtual world and the consequences can be quite scary, not just because of online card fraud but the loss of privacy and--in some cases--theft of an individual's identity.

Traditional shoppers don't exactly wear a big sign with their address emblazoned on it. Compare this to the virtual world, where even if you're just `window' shopping, many websites require you to register or accept a `cookie', information that a website puts on your hard disk so that it can track your internet travels.

The end result is that consumers are wary of the internet. They know that a phone number or email address, given for `questions about your order' for instance, can quickly turn into dinner time sales pitches or junk emails flooding their inboxes.

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Nameless in Cyberspace: Protecting Online Privacy: Online Commerce Was Predicted to Become a Key Feature of the Payments System but Privacy Concerns Have Stymied Its Growth. Con Yianakos Outlines How the Financial Services Industry Can Play a Part in Restoring Confidence. (E-Commerce). Contributors: Yianakos, Con - Author. Magazine title: Journal of Banking and Financial Services. Volume: 116. Issue: 6 Publication date: December 2002. Page number: 48+. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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