Building consumer trust online

The reason more people have yet to shop online or even provide information to Web providers in exchange for access to information, is the fundamental lack of faith between most businesses and consumers on the Web today. In essence, consumers simply do not trust most Web providers enough to engage in "relationship exchanges" involving money and personal information with them. Research reveals that this lack of trust arises from the fact that cyberconsumers feel they lack control over the access that Web merchants have to their personal information during the online navigation process. These concerns over privacy span dimensions of environmental control and secondary use of information control. Recognizing consumers' rights to data ownership on the Internet is an important first step in this rebalancing process. At a minimum, it means market-driven industry acceptance and enforcement of opt-out policies regarding information exchange. Eventually, the industry should accede to consumer demand and move toward opt-in, informed-consent policies in computer-mediated environments.