What is Pitfall

The growth of the Internet is increasing the deployment of e-services in such areas as e-commerce, e-learning, and e-health. In parallel, the providers and consumers of such services are realizing the need for privacy. The use of P3P privacy policies on Web sites is an example of this growing concern for privacy. Managing privacy using privacy policies is a promising approach. In this approach, an e-service provider and an e-service consumer each have separate privacy policies. Before an e-service is engaged, the provider’s policy must be “compatible” with the consumer’s policy. However, beyond compatibility, the policies may face pitfalls arising from improper specification, misapplication, and improper maintenance (e.g. failing to keep a personal privacy policy up-to-date). This can result in the lost of privacy and even lead to serious safety issues in certain cases. This chapter gives examples of how such pitfalls can arise and suggests ways to avoid these pitfalls.