Historically, consumer trust in online privacy has been low. Without faith that data is confidential, online business may be stunted. Some industry leaders are taking proactive measures to gain consumer confidence.
Last month, the Interactive Travel Services Association testified before the Department of Commerce Summit’s Internet privacy meeting regarding strategies employed by the Air Transport Association that potentially invade consumer privacy.
“The airlines want members of my association to gather and provide them with specific information about our customers at a level far more detailed than what had been traditionally required to buy an airline ticket,” says Reid Detchon, executive director of ITSA. “The step is alarming because agents have little choice but to comply with a demand from their suppliers.”
In particular, ITSA is concerned about ATA’s May 1998 recommendations that electronic agents keep track of their users electronically.
“The airlines describe these ‘recommended practices’ as intended to prevent imagined e-commerce abuse,” says Detchon. “However, these practices could also enable the airlines to build databases of customer identities, interests and travel histories to help them capture those customers for themselves.”
To combat privacy problems, Detchon says ITSA intends to adopt guidelines proposed by the Online Privacy Alliance [http://www.privacyalliance.org]. OPA’s Guidelines for Online Privacy Policies recommends that a privacy policy:
– be easy to find, read and understand – state what information is being collected and for what purpose _ state choices available to an individual regarding collection, use and distribution of the collected information _ Include a statement of the organization’s commitment to data security and what steps the organization takes to ensure data quality and access
The airline industry isn’t alone in its concern with privacy. Netcom Online Communication Services Inc. [http://www.netcom.com], a San Jose-based ISP and founding member of OPA, is asking its advertisers and content providers to devise privacy policies complying with Netcom’s.
The ISP is hopeful that uniform privacy policies will encourage consumers and let them know what will happen to data they supply over the Internet. “The establishment of this policy is an indication of the significance with which we regard privacy, not only for our customers, but also for the entire industry,” says Terry Pittman, general manager of online usage and e-commerce for Netcom.
Outside the U.S., governments are stepping in to address online privacy. The European Union plans to implement its Privacy Directive on Oct. 24, 1998. The directive calls for blocking the transfer of personal information to countries that don’t comply with E.U. privacy standards.
Freedom of information is as American as apple pie, and Netcom shuns the idea of government involvement, seeking self-regulation instead. “If we build customer trust, we expect more online usage,” says Pittman. “If we set privacy standards ourselves, we don’t see the need for government regulation.”
