E‐commerce policies and customer privacy

The rapid growth of the Internet and the number of online consumers have resulted in increased fears from privacy advocates, legislators and consumer groups regarding the guarantees of privacy when using e‐commerce and the Internet. Some companies collect marketing information on consumers’ Internet habits without their knowledge or consent. This study looks at stated policies appearing on the Web sites of a number of major e‐commerce companies regarding Internet privacy. This was accomplished by the examination of information related to current Internet policies posted on these firms’ Web sites. Also examined was whether these policies have been changed over a three‐year time period. Five policy categories were examined over this three‐year period using a consistent rating scale. These categories were privacy, returns, shipping, warranty, and security.