Privacy and Security Issues Online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Privacy and Security Issues Online - Essay Example Conducting business via the internet has been referred to as e-commerce or electronic commerce (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997). According to Kalakota and Whinston, â€Å"it endeavors to improve the execution of business transactions over various networks† (1997, p. 4). Ecommerce has really made business easier and enjoyable. This has resulted to more performance, better quality, greater customer satisfaction, and better decision making among the consumers and sellers (Kalakota 1997). ...The UK government believes that if e-commerce was a sector by itself, it would be larger than the sectors of utilities and agriculture (UK Cabinet Office Staff, 2011). However, apart from bringing many profits to business owners, it has brought about breaches of privacy and security to consumers and businesses. 1. Various Privacy and Security Issues experienced by Consumers and Businesses Online The ever increasing use of the internet has resulted in many consumers giving too much information wit hout even realizing it and has been viewed as a tempting treasure, especially for marketers. For example, when a consumer visits a particular company’s website, he might unwillingly provide to the company with even confidential information. If the website utilizes cookies and other tracking devices, companies usually gather even more information, which if not properly handled, results in security and privacy issues. Computerized interactions between businesses and their clients have helped in building more sophisticated businesses. As more information is being shared with others, some clients’ personal information ends up in the wrong hands and might be used in wrong ways bringing up problems between consumers and businesses (Selis, Ramasastry, Kim and Smith, n.d.). The nature of online activities has been seen to threaten the privacy of consumer’s and the businesses taking place online. Every move the consumer or a business owner makes on the internet, whether on smartphones, tablets, or laptops, turn out to be information that trackers have been able to access, and used to their advantage.