Abstract
The advent of the Internet has altered the way that individuals find information and has changed how they engage with many organizations, like government, health care, and commercial enterprises. The emergence of the World Wide Web has also resulted in a significant increase in the collection and process of individuals’ information electronically, which has lead to consumers concerns about privacy issues. Many researches have reported the customers’ worries for the possible misuse of their personal data during their transactions on the Internet (Earp & Baumer, 2003; Furnell & Karweni, 1999), while investigation has been made in measuring individuals’ concerns about organizational information privacy practices (Smith, Milberg & Burke, 1996). Information privacy, which “concerns an individual’s control over the processing, that is the acquisition, disclosure, and use, of personal information” (Kang, 1998) has been reported as one of the most important “ethical issues of the information age” (Mason, 1986).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Data Subject’s Consent: Any freely given specific and informed indication of the data subject’s wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.
Privacy: The claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.
Personal Information: Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Such information includes home address and telephone number, date of birth, social insurance number, age, marital and financial status, race, national or ethnic origin, and religion.
Data Subject: A person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.
Data Collection: The process of gathering information about a user.
Privacy Policy: A form of communication between the organization and its Web site’s visitors, regarding the way with which the organization uses personal information.
Data Processing: Any process that converts data into information. The processing is usually assumed to be automated and running on an information system.
User: Any natural person using a publicly available electronic communication service, for private or business purposes, without necessarily having subscribed to this service.