Use your favorite search engine to find a Web site (other than ...

[Bernana]

Use your favorite search engine to find a Web site (other than Disney or Sanriotown) that is directed at young people. Examine the site to determine how it complies with COPPA. Test the site to ensure that it requires parental consent before it accepts information from children under the age of 13. Evaluate the sites compliance with COPPA in a report of about 200 words.

Question 2

Most U.S. businesses take the position that they have a right to use customer information that they collect unless the customer objects explicitly. In two or three paragraphs, outline arguments against this approach and propose an alternative guideline based on your arguments.

[poopface]

Answer to Question 1

An evaluation of www.nick.com may be similar to the following:

• The privacy notice is clearly stated.


• The site limits its collection of information from kids to what is known as non-personally identifiable information


• The site obtains verifiable parental consent from the child's parents before sending the newsletter

Answer to Question 2

Ethics issues are significant in the area of online privacy because laws have not kept pace with the growth of the Internet and the Web. The nature and degree of personal information that Web sites can record when collecting information about visitors page viewing habits, product selections, and demographic information can threaten the privacy rights of those visitors. This is especially true when companies lose control of the data they collect on their customers (and other people).

Over the years, many companies have made news headlines because they allowed confidential information about individuals to be released without the permission of those individuals. One example involves ChoicePoint (a company that compiles information about consumers). It sold the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and credit reports of more than 145,000 people to thieves who posed as legitimate businesses. More than 1,000 fraud cases have been documented as a result of that privacy violation. ChoicePoint ended up paying a 10 million fine and set up a

5 million fund to compensate victims.

Until the legal requirements of privacy regulation become clearer, privacy advocates urge electronic commerce Web sites to be conservative in their collection and use of customer data. Many companies have adopted the following guidelines:

• Use data collected to provide improved service or other benefits to the customer.


• Do not provide customer data to anyone outside your organization without the customers express permission.


• Give customers a description of what data is collected and provide clear explanations about how the data is used.


• Give customers the right to have any of their data deleted.


• Train employees in how to keep customer data safe and secure.

[Bernana]

Great answer, keep it coming

[nyrave]

TYSM