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ONLINE PRIVACY AND E-COMMERCE

Description of issue. News stories of Internet privacy threats are commonplace these days. The Internet was designed as an inherently insecure communications vehicle.

• Hackers easily penetrate the most secure facilities of the military and financial institutions.
• Internet companies have designed numerous ways to track web users as they travel and shop throughout cyberspace. "Cookie" is no longer a word associated solely with sweets. It now refers to cyber-snooping.
• Identity thieves are able to shop online anonymously using the credit-identities of others.
• Web-based information brokers sell sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, relatively cheaply.

Looking ahead. One of the positive results of media coverage of online privacy is public awareness of the issue. Congressional representatives have taken notice. Some form of an Internet privacy law is expected to be passed in the coming years. But will such a law possess meaningful consumer protections, giving consumers the full complement of the "fair information principles" (FIPs)? Will the principles of notice, consent, access, security, enforcement, redress, and collection limitation be codified into law? Or will an online privacy law be a watered down version, simply notice and choice, or worse, just notice - what privacy advocates call "FIPs-lite?"

It is one thing to mandate that every commercial website provide a privacy policy. It is quite another to require that commercial websites clearly explain their data-collection practices and provide meaningful methods for visitors to prevent their personal information and "clickstream" data from being captured and sold to other companies. So far, legislative bills mandating effective consumer privacy protection provisions have not advanced in Congress.

Knowledgeable individuals can take steps to prevent their web-surfing practices from being captured by the websites they visit. But, realistically, few people have the requisite knowledge or patience to take advantage of such privacy-enhancing strategies.

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