Given the complexity of practices relating to privacy, and the lack of knowledge among consumers, it seems likely that consumers must rely on the perception of trustworthiness in the absence of – genuine knowledge and understanding in consenting to the privacy practices of entities. The role – of trust in lowering concerns about privacy makes it important for entities to understand ways to improve the trust of consumers. The perception of trustworthiness can be improved through simple measures such as having ‘visual’ a prominently displayed privacy policy, having party’ certifications such as WebTrust and ‘third BBBOnline, and the inclusion of an icon to denote secure encryption. Trust is also improved through consumer empowerment. Providing consumers with privacy options not only improves consumers’ protection of privacy, but raises the level of trust the consumer has in a service provider and lowers the level of concern the consumer has with respect to privacy. Policy options for improving consent and informed decision-making To improve the level of consumer control and the protection of privacy, the range of practices that require consumer consent should be expanded and awareness of those controls should be improved Service providers should avoid bundling consent With regard to consent, consumers should be informed, and have choices and controls with respect to information that they are likely to find important, in particular: The sale of their information The aggregation of their information The analysis of their information Default settings should favour the privacy of the consumer Fieldwork research should provide data with respect to the differences between methods of obtaining consent (eg opt-in versus opt-out) Service providers should maximise the opportunity for consumers to provide informed consent The giving of consent should be separated from any browsewrap and clickwrap contracts Consumers should be able to withdraw consent for the use of their personal information Consumers should be provided with effective notice and privacy controls where service providers change their privacy policies. Contract and Consumer Law Most online terms of use, and many online privacy policies, purport to create a contractual relationship with each individual user of online services. The service providers examined in this project adopt three strategies for making privacy terms contractual:
Given the complexity of practices relating to privacy, and the lack of knowledge among consumers, it seems likely that consumers must rely on the perception of trustworthiness – in the absence of genuine knowledge and understanding – in consenting to the privacy practices of entities. The role of trust in lowering concerns about privacy makes it important for entities to understand ways to improve the trust of consumers. The perception of trustworthiness can be improved through simple ‘visual’ measures such as having a prominently displayed privacy policy, having ‘third party’ certifications such as WebTrust and BBBOnline, and the inclusion of an icon to denote secure encryption. Trust is also improved through consumer empowerment. Providing consumers with privacy options not only improves consumers’ protection of privacy, but raises the level of trust the consumer has in a service provider and lowers the level of concern the consumer has with respect to privacy. Policy options for improving consent and informed decision-making To improve the level of consumer control and the protection of privacy, the range of practices that require consumer consent should be expanded and awareness of those controls should be improved Service providers should avoid bundling consent With regard to consent, consumers should be informed, and have choices and controls with respect to information that they are likely to find important, in particular: The sale of their information The aggregation of their information The analysis of their information Default settings should favour the privacy of the consumer Fieldwork research should provide data with respect to the differences between methods of obtaining consent (eg opt-in versus opt-out) Service providers should maximise the opportunity for consumers to provide informed consent The giving of consent should be separated from any browsewrap and clickwrap contracts Consumers should be able to withdraw consent for the use of their personal information Consumers should be provided with effective notice and privacy controls where service providers change their privacy policies. Contract and Consumer Law Most online terms of use, and many online privacy policies, purport to create a contractual relationship with each individual user of online services. The service providers examined in this project adopt three strategies for making privacy terms contractual: