Signs are multiplying that online consumers are gladly trading their privacy concerns -- and personal data -- for point-and-click shopping convenience.
Americangreetings.com, the second largest retail site on the Web with 8.1 million unique visitors in August, has a click-through rate on its privacy policy link of 0.009 percent, or 9 in 100,000 visitors
"It's so low, it's barely statistically significant," said Nancy Davis, an Americangreetings.com spokeswoman.
Given that some sites spell out in their privacy policies that they share customer data with partners, one thing is clear: Cyberpatrons like to shop more than they care to agonize over the future of their personal information.
Then there's Amazon.com. On August 31, the e-commerce giant revised its long-standing practice of protecting customer data, informing users that every scrap of data Amazon collects is a key asset that could be sold.
In practice, the sharing of information among online merchants is common, said Ben Isaacson, executive director of the Association for Interactive Media.
"In the online world, we have had policies saying that for years. The only difference is Amazon mailed it to people, rather than just saying 'It's on our Web site.' "
Dramatic changes ahead?
to make a dramatic change to its privacy policy, Isaacson said. "Other companies are taking notice and will start doing similar things."
Amazon did not return repeated calls seeking comment. In a statement, however, CEO Jeff Bezos said the revision "tried to take into consideration not only our current activities, but also those things we could imagine possibly happening in the future."
Some privacy advocates acknowledged that consumers seemed to be comfortable with the change.
"You'll see more of it. This was an honest admission [by Amazon] that if they were acquired, they would sell their data as an asset," said Andrew Shen, policy analyst at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Many more companies are going to run out of money and will sell their data, too."
Earlier this year, online privacy was a red-hot subject. Congress debated it and the media headlined it. A series of privacy gaffes by companies such as DoubleClick and RealNetworks -- and the embarrassing policy reversals that followed -- made it appear that privacy advocates had the upper hand.
As the Congressional session draws to a close, however, neither laws nor regulations are in place. Instead, the industry has been allowed to continue policing itself.
In August, the US Federal Trade Commission endorsed a plan by a coalition of online profiling companies that would let online advertisers essentially write their own rules. The FTC also called for federal legislation to buttress the so-called Network Advertising Initiative. Privacy advocates argued that the initiative was weak and that the federal government should intervene.
Balancing privacy desires
Yet consumers are not fleeing e-tailers in droves. Many online marketing experts, and even some online privacy proponents, said that Amazon's policy change may indicate that the Internet is balancing privacy desires and commercial needs.
"Consumers want [businesses] to let them know what they are doing with the information," said Donna Hoffman, a professor at Vanderbilt University who specialises in Internet marketing. "But consumers also want to have a relationship with a business."
Privacy advocates insisted that the lack of progress doesn't mean they are abandoning their efforts to protect customer data. Consumers consistently tell pollsters they place a high value on their privacy online. About 84 percent of Internet users are concerned that businesses or others will discover personal information, according to the most recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
"What we found is that there is a high level of concern, a high level of awareness about online privacy...," said Pew director Lee Rainie.
But the Pew survey also showed that 56 percent of consumers have surrendered personal information during an online transaction, and another 10 percent would willingly do so.
"That's a transaction people are relatively comfortable with, if they are asked," Rainie said. The key is for consumers to feel as if they know the ground rules.
Because Amazon chose to disclose its change of policy to its 23 million-plus customers, he said, it might not lose many to competitors.
"The other thing people were telling us is they want control over their information. The fact is, an explicit contact like [Amazon] made would probably sit well with people who have significant concerns about privacy," Rainie said. "It makes the process much more transparent than usual."
Treating customer information as a business asset, as Amazon has decided to do, is a longstanding policy among traditional companies, some analysts said. It's a fair business practice and, in a free market, customers can decide whether they want to do business with companies that maintain such practices.
"People have been warned, and they will have to decide if a change in a privacy policy is a significant enough factor to quit using the services that Amazon offers," said Lucas Mast, researcher in information studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
