Privacy and Internet Policy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Privacy and Internet Policy - Research Paper Example Everybody person has the right to privacy of personal information which is private in nature. George Reynolds, in his book â€Å"Ethics in Information Technology,† argues that â€Å"Privacy is the right to be left alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by a free people† (Reynolds, 2010). People prefer to keep their private information secret because they do not want it to be misused by others. So they safeguard it with the help of laws as also with the help of software etc. The concept of consumer profiling is also relevant in this context. It deals with sketching of important psycho-graphical and demographical information concerning the user of a product. Such data consists of details like gender, age group, education, place of living, profession, income scale, marital status etc. Some companies explicitly gather personal information about the users of internet when they register at their websites by way of making them fill certain forms. The threat in this case is that personal data is collected and certain companies sell this information to other firms without the consent of consumers. Thus, the internet exposes individuals to the threat of leaking their private information. Therefore, protecting consumer data is a significant concern while using the internet for various purposes. Though all companies have a privacy statement, explicitly given on their websites, one cannot rule out the possibility that â€Å"existing privacy enhancing technologies fail in the event of a vendor operating against their stated privacy policy†. , leading to loss of customer privacy and security† (Pearce & Bertok, 1999, para. 1). Personal information transacted through online can be misused, which will lead to failure in safeguarding customer privacy. There are some laws to prevent the misuse of personal data, but these are not sufficient to fully safeguard privacy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to enhance or supplement the existing regulations to completely