Ethical, social, and political issues in e-Commerce

FTC’s Fair Information Practice PrinciplesNotice/AwarenessChoice/ConsentAccess/ParticipationSecurityEnforcementSites must disclose information practices before collecting data.Includes identification of collector, uses of data, other recipients of data,nature of collection (active/inactive), voluntary or required,consequences of refusal, and steps taken to protect confidentiality,integrity, and quality of the dataThere must be a choice regime in place allowing consumers to choosehow their information will be used for secondary purposes other thansupporting the transaction, including internal use and transfer to thirdparties. Opt-in/Opt-out must be available.Consumers should be able to review and contest the accuracy andcompleteness of data collected about them in a timely, inexpensiveprocess.Data collectors must take reasonable steps to assure that consumerinformation is accurate and secure from unauthorized use.There must be in place a mechanism to enforce FIPprinciples. This can involve self-regulation, legislation giving consumerslegal remedies for violations, or federal statutes and regulation.SOURCE: Based on data from Federal Trade Commission, 1998, 2000a.9-31