Online Privacy in Public

Even though Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced publicly that the world has changed, that it has become more public and less private, not everyone will agree with the Zuckerberg Philosophy. While philosophical theories have long acknowledged the relationship between privacy and information about persons, and have argued for limits on allowable practices of information gathering and sharing as a means of protecting privacy, their efforts have primarily applied to intimate and sensitive information.

While not denying the importance of protecting intimate and sensitive information, theories of privacy should also recognize the systematic relationship between privacy and information that is neither intimate nor sensitive and is drawn from public spheres.

Microsoft recently announced a new feature for Internet Explorer 9 called Tracking Protection Lists, enabling consumers to limit the data third-party sites can collect about them. Mozilla on the other hand, announced that they will incorporate a Do Not Track header into the upcoming Firefox 4.1, which would essentially notify each website the user wants to opt out of third party, advertising based tracking. And Google recently made a new Chrome extension available called Keep My Opt-outs, which permanently opts your browser out of online ad personalization via cookies. While these are prominent efforts being made to protect our browsers, tools are also being developed for our social networking sites.

Companies Become Cautious

Among the social networking sites, Facebook undoubtedly gained phenomenal popularity around the world, even in India, almost replacing Orkut. In its early days, and also till the recent past, its primary differentiator was that the user data was only visible to other users who were in their friend list. However as of mid-December 2010, Facebook users were no longer allowed to hide from the web-at-large some information including their profile photos, list of friends, and interests in the form of fan pages they followed. While this move and others have made many heads worry about their online privacy, not all companies are following the Zuckerberg Philosophy.

As one of worlds largest professional network, LinkedIn takes the privacy of their members data very seriously. More than 100 mn professionals worldwide have joined LinkedIn because they want to be found and to share information and insights that help them be more productive and successful. We believe that our members should be able to easily manage the information they share and how they share it, which is why we strive to provide consistent, clear, and easy-to-use controls for our members to manage their data, says Hari Krishnan, country manager, LinkedIn India. He adds, LinkedIn understands the desire for an approach to online privacy that gives consumers greater information and control, while still fostering the creation of the innovative new services those consumers want.

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Today, when people are beginning to trust online portals, sharing their financial and personal information online, companies need to view protection of their customers privacy as a very important corporate responsibility. At Yebhi.com, like other online portals, customers share valuable information while browsing and shopping at the website. All such information is stored on secured servers. They use third parties to verify and certify the privacy principles and do not store or record any financial detail of their customer in line with the RBI guidelines.

We do get queries from advertisers asking us to sell our user database, but we have a strict policy of never sharing it with a third party, confirms Gunjan Patidar, co-founder, Zomato.com. Even for Sulekha.com, who are in the core business of enabling transactions between consumers and businesses through classifieds yellow pages, and social media services, the policy is, never to sell consumer information. The privacy steps taken partly by the regulators (online password for swiping credit card, new one-time password for IVR based usage) and others led by self-regulation of leading players (Citibank India offering only virtual keyboard option, and other banks following it, etc) create an environment where online consumers are increasingly feeling safer on the net, says Satya Prabhakar, CEO, Sulekha.com.

As for the group buying sites like Snapdeal.com, collecting financial details from customers is unavoidable. However, they do not collect the credit or debit card numbers on Snapdeal.com. These numbers are inputted by the customer directly on the banks site, ensuring privacy.

Meanwhile, technical heads of online companies are taking active steps to deploy cutting edge security technology for the protection of customer information. To protect against loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control, we have in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures, says Surojit Bose, technical head, 99labels.com.

Things to Do

Says Kunal Bahl, founder and CEO, Snapdeal.com, A significant challenge faced by the industry is when out of 100 legitimate online companies, 1 decides to indulge in unethical practices with the customer data. It has a domino effect on the entire industrys credibility. Further, though the benefits of going online are considerable, a little error in the process can create a thorny situation.

To avoid this, online companies need to provide their customers with a well written and easy to comprehend privacy policy, so that they know what they share and with whom, and privacy options, so that they can opt-out from sharing certain levels of private information. In addition, keeping a track of the latest technologies and regulatory obligations to fully protect the customers financial and personal information, will certainly go a long way in fostering that much sought after loyal online community. After all, safety doesnt happen by accident!

Drishti D Manoah
drishtim@cybermedia.co.in