Certificate of Declaration

This is certify that project report entitled “Perceptual Study of Privacy Issues in E marketing” ,

which is submitted by Butta Singh , School of Management Studies, Punjabi university, Patiala

is an authentic record of candidate’s own work and is completed under my guidance. This report

is with regard to MBA project and not to be submitted for any other degree.

Lec. Satinder Kumar

(Project guide)

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PREFACE

This report pertains to the making of Major Project report of M.B.A. curriculum.

The purpose of this project is to make the students have thorough knowledge of the topics

given to them. I learned a lot from the hard work I put in to collect information regarding the

same, which would be of great use in my near future as a professional.

Justification cannot be done to whatever I have learn t within a few pages but I have still

tried my best to cover as much as possible about “Perceptual Study of Privacy Issues in E

marketing” in this report.

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Acknowledgement

Before we get into the thick of thing, I would like to say that it was a great pleasure &

privilege for me to have the opportunity of undertaking this project. I have the honor to express

my sincere thanks to my esteemed project guide Lecturer Mr. Satinder Kumar who has guided

me in this project and also guided me to write an efficient report.

I would also like to thanks my friends and colleagues who have helped me in collection

of relevant data and helped me in completing the project.

I am sure that the knowledge & information that I have gained during this project would

be of immense value for my future.

Butta Singh

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF CHARTS 5-6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7

NO. CHAPTER NAME PAGE NO.

I INTRODUCTION 8-28

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE, RATIONALE

AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

29-34

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 35-36

IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 37-58

V FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS, LIMITATIONS,

CONCUSION

59-63

BIBLIOGRAPHY 64

ANNEXURE 65

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List of Charts

No. Name Page

No.

4.1 Access Internet facilities for any activity 38

4.2 Having Email Account 39

4.3 E marketing caters to the computer literate person only 40

4.4 Often do shopping 41

4.5 Frequency of buying things online 42

4.6 f Greatest benefit of E marketing to marketer and consumer 43

4.7 Read privacy policies of the company while sharing personal information 44

4.8 Reasons for not reading privacy policy 45

4.9 Types of privacy issues faced due to E-marketing 46

4.10 Customer is concerned about his privacy in E marketing 47

4.11 Customer personal details are safe with online companies 48

4.12 Online marketers are able to find out personal information through the customer

activities on their websites

49

4.13 E marketers manipulate the information of the customer according to their use 50

4.14 Online marketers keep confidential the personal information of the customer 51

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No. Name Page

No.

4.15 Privacy and security of the Credit card and account is very important in E

marketing

52

4.16 E marketing interferes in the children privacy through exposure of vulgarity and

obscenity

53

4.17 Privacy policies are explained thoroughly on the websites 54

4.18 E marketers practice what they state in their privacy policy 55

4.19 The privacy of internet user is greatly violated 56

4.20 Consumer is aware of the legal and other implications on violation of his privacy 57

4.21 Customer should be given more option regarding the use of his personal

information

58

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project is all about the study of customer perception about the privacy issues related

to E marketing. Firstly there is the introduction to the E marketing. E-marketing means using

digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These technologies, like e-mail and

websites, are a valuable complement to traditional marketing methods whatever the size of your

company or your business model. This rapid growth of internet has been accompanied, however,

by concerns regarding the collection and dissemination of consumer information by marketers

who participate in online retailing. These concerns pertain to the privacy and security of

accumulated consumer data and the perceived risks that consumers may experience with respect

to these issues.

Next to the introduction there are certain previously carried out studies related to the

topic which serve as Review of Literature. These studies guided the theme and scheme of the

project. Next there is the rationale of the study and objectives. The main aim of this research is to

study the customers’ perceptions regarding the privacy in e-marketing, the ethical issues related

to privacy and factors behind it.

Then is Research Methodology, which includes justification about the topic and it

also contain the sampling design, sources of information (primary as well as secondary)and

scope of study. Next there is data analysis and interpretation. After it findings, suggestions and

conclusion is there. In conclusion, privacy protection on the Internet demands a multi-tier

approach, involving organizations, governments and individual consumers.

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CHAPTER I

Introduction E-Marketing and Privacy Issues

E-marketing means using digital technologies to help sell your goods or services. These

technologies, like e-mail and websites, are a valuable complement to traditional marketing

methods whatever the size of your company or your business model..

Benefits of e marketing:-

Global Reach

If you build a website you can reach anyone, anywhere in the world, provided they have

internet access. This allows you to tap new markets and compete globally with only a small

investment. This can be particularly useful for niche providers, companies whose products can

be posted easily, or businesses who are looking to expand geographically but cannot afford to

invest in new offices or businesses.

Lower Cost

A properly planned and effectively targeted e-marketing campaign can reach the right

customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods. You can build a website for

as little as a few hundred pounds or send e-mail for a fraction of a penny.

Trackable, Measurable Results

Marketing by e-mail or banner advertising makes it easier to establish how effective your

campaign has been. If someone clicks on a banner advert, or a link in an e-mail or on a website,

you can see how they arrived at your website. This detailed information about customers’

responses to your advertising allows you to assess the effectiveness of different campaigns.

24-Hour Marketing

With a website your customers can find out about your products even if your office is

closed.

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Shorter Lead Times

If you have a website or an e-mail template, you can react to events much more quickly –

giving your marketing a much more contemporary feel. If one of your products is in the news or

something important happens in your industry, you can capitalize on it without having to print or

post anything.

A Level Playing Field

With a well-designed website, you can show yourself to be as professional and credible

as your larger competitors.

Personalisation

If your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits the

site, you can greet them with targeted offers. The more they buy from you, the more you can

refine your customer profile and market effectively to them. A great example of this is Amazon’s

website which suggests products based on your and other people’s previous purchases.

Marketing Ethics:-

Ethics has been termed the study and philosophy of human conduct, with an emphasis on

the determination of right and wrong. For marketers, ethics in the workplace refers to rules

(standards, principles) governing the conduct of organizational members and the consequences

of marketing decisions. Therefore, ethical marketing from a normative perspective approach is

defined as “practices that emphasize transparent, trustworthy, and responsible personal and

organizational marketing policies and actions that exhibit integrity as well as fairness to

consumers and other stakeholders. Marketing ethics focuses on principles and standards that

define acceptable marketing conduct, as determined by various stakeholders and the organization

responsible for marketing activities. While many of the basic principles have been codified as

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laws and regulations to require marketers to conform to society’s expectations of conduct,

marketing ethics goes beyond legal and regulatory issues. Ethical marketing practices and

principles are core building blocks in establishing trust, which help build long-term marketing

relationships. In addition, the boundary-spanning nature of marketing (i.e. sales, advertising, and

distribution) presents many of the ethical issues faced in business today.

Both marketing practitioners and marketing professors approach ethics from different

perspectives. For example, one perspective is that ethics is about being a moral individual and

that personal values and moral philosophies are the key to ethical decisions in marketing. Virtues

such as honesty, fairness, responsibility, and citizenship are assumed to be values that can guide

complex marketing decisions in the context of an organization. On the other hand, approaching

ethics from an organizational perspective assumes that establishing organizational values, codes,

and training is necessary to provide consistent and shared approaches to making ethical

decisions.

Need for Private Data:-

Why is privacy of concern to e-commerce?

The Internet has grown considerably during the past decade, particularly with respect to

its use as a tool for communication, entertainment, and marketplace exchange. This rapid growth

has been accompanied, however, by concerns regarding the collection and dissemination of

consumer information by marketers who participate in online retailing. These concerns pertain to

the privacy and security of accumulated consumer data (Briones 1998; Culnan 1999) and the

perceived risks that consumers may experience with respect to these issues (Ernst & Young

1999; Milne and Boza 1999; Milne 2000).

There are many business opportunities in the changing technical environment. The use of

digital systems allows data capture at a much larger rate and scope than previously; e-commerce

sites could potentially collect an immense amount of data about personal preferences, shopping

patterns, patterns of information search and use, and the like about consumers, especially if

aggregated across sites. Not only is it easier than ever to collect the data, it is also much easier to

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search these data. New computational techniques allow data mining for buying patterns and other

personal trends. These data can be used to personalize a customer’s e-commerce experience,

augment an organization’s customer support, or improve a customer’s specific e-site experience.

The data are valuable for reuse, for example, in finding potential sales to existing customers. As

well, the data are also valuable to aggregators (who may look for other personal trends and

patterns) or for other types of resale. Indeed, reuse and resale are simultaneously both potential

opportunities and problems

Information security: -

Protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use,

disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction.

The terms information security, computer security and information assurance are

frequently incorrectly used interchangeably. These fields are interrelated often and share the

common goals of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information;

however, there are some subtle differences between them.

These differences lie primarily in the approach to the subject, the methodologies used,

and the areas of concentration. Information security is concerned with the confidentiality,

integrity and availability of data regardless of the form the data may take: electronic, print, or

other forms.

Computer security can focus on ensuring the availability and correct operation of a

computer system without concern for the information stored or processed by the computer.

Governments, military, corporations, financial institutions, hospitals, and private businesses

amass a great deal of confidential information about their employees, customers, products,

research, and financial status. Most of this information is now collected, processed and stored on

electronic computers and transmitted across networks to other computers. Should confidential

information about a business' customers or finances or new product line fall into the hands of a

competitor, such a breach of security could lead to lost business, law suits or even bankruptcy of

the business. Protecting confidential information is a business requirement, and in many cases

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also an ethical and legal requirement. For the individual, information security has a significant

effect on privacy, which is viewed very differently in different cultures

Type of information can be misused

1. Personal information.

2. Demographic information.

3. Contact information.

4. Credit card no./ac no

5. Taste and preferences.

Security classification for information

An important aspect of information security and risk management is recognizing the

value of information and defining appropriate procedures and protection requirements for the

information. Not all information is equal and so not all information requires the same degree of

protection. This requires information to be assigned a security classification.

The first step in information classification is to identify a member of senior management

as the owner of the particular information to be classified. Next, develop a classification policy.

The policy should describe the different classification labels, define the criteria for information

to be assigned a particular label, and list the required security controls for each classification.

Some factors that influence which classification information should be assigned include

how much value that information has to the organization, how old the information is and whether

or not the information has become obsolete. Laws and other regulatory requirements are also

important considerations when classifying information.

The type of information security classification labels selected and used will depend on the

nature of the organisation, with examples being:

In the business sector, labels such as: Public, Sensitive, Private, Confidential.

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In the government sector, labels such as: Unclassified, Sensitive But Unclassified,

Restricted, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret and their non-English equivalents.

In cross-sectoral formations, the Traffic Light Protocol, which consists of: White, Green,

Amber and Red.

All employees in the organization, as well as business partners, must be trained on the

classification schema and understand the required security controls and handling procedures for

each classification. The classification a particular information asset has been assigned should be

reviewed periodically to ensure the classification is still appropriate for the information and to

ensure the security controls required by the classification are in place.

Access control

Access to protected information must be restricted to people who are authorized to access

the information. The computer programs, and in many cases the computers that process the

information, must also be authorized. This requires that mechanisms be in place to control the

access to protected information. The sophistication of the access control mechanisms should be

in parity with the value of the information being protected - the more sensitive or valuable the

information the stronger the control mechanisms need to be. The foundation on which access

control mechanisms are built start with identification and authentication.

Identification is an assertion of who someone is or what something is. If a person makes

the statement "Hello, my name is John Doe" they are making a claim of who they are. However,

their claim may or may not be true. Before John Doe can be granted access to protected

information it will be necessary to verify that the person claiming to be John Doe really is John

Doe.

Authentication

It is the act of verifying a claim of identity. When John Doe goes into a bank to make a

withdrawal, he tells the bank teller he is John Doe (a claim of identity). The bank teller asks to

see a photo ID, so he hands the teller his driver's license. The bank teller checks the license to

make sure it has John Doe printed on it and compares the photograph on the license against the

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person claiming to be John Doe. If the photo and name match the person, then the teller has

authenticated that John Doe is who he claimed to be.

There are three different types of information that can be used for authentication:

something you know, something you have, or something you are. Examples of something you

know include such things as a PIN, a password, or your mother's maiden name. Examples of

something you have include a driver's license or a magnetic swipe card. Something you are refers

to biometrics. Examples of biometrics include palm prints, finger prints, voice prints and retina

(eye) scans. Strong authentication requires providing information from two of the three different

types of authentication information. For example, something you know plus something you have.

This is called two factor authentication.

On computer systems in use today, the Username is the most common form of

identification and the Password is the most common form of authentication. Usernames and

passwords have served their purpose but in our modern world they are no longer adequate.

Usernames and passwords are slowly being replaced with more sophisticated authentication

mechanisms.

After a person, program or computer has successfully been identified and authenticated

then it must be determined what informational resources they are permitted to access and what

actions they will be allowed to perform (run, view, create, delete, or change). This is called

authorization.

Authorization to access information and other computing services begins with

administrative policies and procedures. The policies prescribe what information and computing

services can be accessed, by whom, and under what conditions. The access control mechanisms

are then configured to enforce these policies.

Different computing systems are equipped with different kinds of access control

mechanisms - some may even offer a choice of different access control mechanisms. The access

control mechanism a system offers will be based upon one of three approaches to access control

or it may be derived from a combination of the three approaches.

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The non-discretionary approach consolidates all access control under a centralized

administration. The access to information and other resources is usually based on the individuals

function (role) in the organization or the tasks the individual must perform. The discretionary

approach gives the creator or owner of the information resource the ability to control access to

those resources. In the Mandatory access control approach, access is granted or denied basing

upon the security classification assigned to the information resource.

Examples of common access control mechanisms in use today include Role-based access

control available in many advanced Database Management Systems, simple file permissions

provided in the UNIX and Windows operating systems, Group Policy Objects provided in

Windows network systems, Kerberos, RADIUS, TACACS, and the simple access lists used in

many firewalls and routers.

To be effective, policies and other security controls must be enforceable and upheld.

Effective policies ensure that people are held accountable for their actions. All failed and

successful authentication attempts must be logged, and all access to information must leave some

type of audit trail.

Cryptography

Information security uses cryptography to transform usable information into a form that

renders it unusable by anyone other than an authorized user; this process is called encryption.

Information that has been encrypted (rendered unusable) can be transformed back into its

original usable form by an authorized user, who possesses the cryptographic key, through the

process of decryption. Cryptography is used in information security to protect information from

unauthorized or accidental disclosure while the information is in transit (either electronically or

physically) and while information is in storage.

Cryptography provides information security with other useful applications as well

including improved authentication methods, message digests, digital signatures, non-repudiation,

and encrypted network communications. Older less secure application such as telnet and ftp are

slowly being replaced with more secure applications such as ssh that use encrypted network

communications. Wireless communications can be encrypted using protocols such as

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WPA/WPA2 or the older (and less secure) WEP. Wired communications (such as ITU-T G.hn)

are secured using AES for encryption and X.1035 for authentication and key exchange. Software

applications such as GnuPG or PGP can be used to encrypt data files and Email.

Cryptography can introduce security problems when it is not implemented correctly.

Cryptographic solutions need to be implemented using industry accepted solutions that have

undergone rigorous peer review by independent experts in cryptography. The length and strength

of the encryption key is also an important consideration. A key that is weak or too short will

produce weak encryption. The keys used for encryption and decryption must be protected with

the same degree of rigor as any other confidential information. They must be protected from

unauthorized disclosure and destruction and they must be available when needed. PKI solutions

address many of the problems that surround key management.

Defense in depth

Information security must protect information throughout the life span of the information,

from the initial creation of the information on through to the final disposal of the information.

The information must be protected while in motion and while at rest. During its life time,

information may pass through many different information processing systems and through many

different parts of information processing systems. There are many different ways the information

and information systems can be threatened. To fully protect the information during its lifetime,

each component of the information processing system must have its own protection mechanisms.

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The building up, layering on and overlapping of security measures is called defense in depth.

The strength of any system is no greater than its weakest link. Using a defense in depth strategy,

should one defensive measure fail there are other defensive measures in place that continue to

provide protection.

Security vulnerabilities in electronic commerce

1. There are many points of failure, or vulnerabilities, in an e-commerce environment. Even

in a simplified e-commerce scenario – a single user contacts a single web site, and then

gives his credit card and address information for shipping a purchase – many potential

security vulnerabilities exist. Indeed, even in this simple scenario, there are a number of

systems and networks involved. Each has security issues: A user must use a web site and

at some point identify, or authenticate, himself to the site. Typically, authentication

begins on the user’s home computer and its browser. Unfortunately, security problems in

home computers offer hackers other ways to steal ecommerce data and identification data

from users. Some current examples include a popular home-banking system that stores a

user’s account number in a Web “cookie” which hostile web-sites can crack, ineffective

encryption or lack of encryption for home wireless networks and, mail-borne viruses that

can steal the user's financial data from the local disk or even from the user's keystrokes.

While these specific security problems will be fixed by some software developers and

web-site administrators, similar problems will continue to occur. Alternatives to the

home computer include Point-of- Sale (POS) terminals in brick-and-mortar stores, as well

as a variety of mobile and handheld devices.

2. The user’s web browser connects to the merchant front-end. When a consumer makes an

online purchase, the merchant's web-server usually caches the order's personal

information in an archive of recent orders. This archive contains everything necessary for

credit-card fraud. Further, such archives often hold 90 days' worth of customers' orders.

Naturally, hackers break into insecure web servers to harvest these archives of credit card

numbers. Several recent thefts netted 100,000, 300,000, and 3.7 million credit-card data,

respectively. accordingly, an e-commerce merchant's first security priority should be to

keep the web servers' archives of recent orders behind the firewall, not on the front-end

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web servers Furthermore, sensitive servers should be kept highly specialized, by turning

off and removing all inessential services and applications (e.g., ftp, email). Other

practical suggestions to secure web servers can be found in, and among many others.

3. The merchant back-end and database. A site’s servers can weaken the company's internal

network. This not easily remedied, because the web servers need administrative

connections to the internal network, but web server software tends to have buggy

security. Here, the cost of failure is very high, with potential theft of customers’ identities

or corporate data. Additionally, the back-end may connect with third party fulfillment

centers and other processing agents. Arguably, the risk of stolen product is the merchant's

least-important security concern, because most merchants' traditional operations already

have careful controls to track payments and deliveries. However, these third parties can

release valuable data through their own vulnerabilities.

Social networking sites and privacy

Social networking sites have become very popular within the last five years. With the

creation of Facebook and the continued popularity of MySpace many people are giving their

personal information out on the internet. These social networks keep track of all interactions

used on their sites and save them for later use.[14] Most users are not aware that they can modify

the privacy settings and unless they modify them, their information is open to the public. On

Facebook privacy settings can be accessed via the drop down menu under account in the top

right corner. There users can change who can view their profile and what information can be

displayed on their profile. In most cases profiles are open to either "all my network and friends"

or "all of my friends." Also, information that shows on a user's profile such as birthday, religious

views, and relationship status can be removed via the privacy settings. If a user is under 13 years

old they are not able to make a Facebook or a MySpace account, however, this is not regulated.

Facebook Case:- November 2007. Facebook got into hot water regarding its new beacon

advertisements which displayed items that your friends bought on third-party partner sites. While

the data usage may have been legal (Facebook offered options for opt out and had written

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provisions permitting these actions in its privacy policy), the public response overwhelmingly

was one of betrayed trust, condemnation; forcing a public apology.

Wiki leak case:- Hackers rushed to the defense of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching

a new attack on Visa after shutting down MasterCard, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank and

others who have acted against the site and jailed founder Julian Assange.

Internet "hacktivists" operating under the label "Operation Payback" claimed in a Twitter

message, "we are attacking www.visa.com in an hour! Get your weapons ready and stay tuned,"

NBC News reported.

Privacy Policy:-

A privacy policy is a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses,

discloses and manages a customer's data. The exact contents of a privacy policy will depend

upon the applicable law and may need to address the requirements of multiple countries or

jurisdictions. While there is no universal guidance for the content of specific privacy policies, a

number of organizations provide example forms or online wizards.

Privacy Policy of Google:-

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services and websites offered by Google Inc.

or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies except Postini (Postini Privacy Policy). Sometimes, we

may post product specific privacy notices or Help Center materials to explain our products in

more detail.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us through our

website or write to us at

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Privacy Matters

c/o Google Inc.

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

Mountain View, California, 94043

USA

Information we collect and how we use it

We may collect the following types of information:

Information you provide – When you sign up for a Google Account, we ask you for

personal information. We may combine the information you submit under your account

with information from other Google services or third parties in order to provide you with

a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we

may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information. You can use the

Google Dashboard to learn more about the information associated with your Account. If

you are using Google services in conjunction with your Google Apps Account, Google

provides such services in conjunction with or on behalf of your domain administrator.

Your administrator will have access to your account information including your email.

Consult your domain administrator’s privacy policy for more information.

Cookies – When you visit Google, we send one or more cookies to your computer or

other device. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service, including for storing

user preferences, improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such

as how people search. Google also uses cookies in its advertising services to help

advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on Google services.

Log information – When you access Google services via a browser, application or other

client our servers automatically record certain information. These server logs may include

information such as your web request, your interaction with a service, Internet Protocol

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address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or

more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your account.

User communications – When you send email or other communications to Google, we

may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your

requests and improve our services. When you send and receive SMS messages to or from

one of our services that provides SMS functionality, we may collect and maintain

information associated with those messages, such as the phone number, the wireless

carrier associated with the phone number, the content of the message, and the date and

time of the transaction. We may use your email address to communicate with you about

our services.

Affiliated Google Services on other sites – We offer some of our services on or through

other web sites. Personal information that you provide to those sites may be sent to

Google in order to deliver the service. We process such information under this Privacy

Policy.

Third Party Applications – Google may make available third party applications, such as

gadgets or extensions, through its services. The information collected by Google when

you enable a third party application is processed under this Privacy Policy. Information

collected by the third party application provider is governed by their privacy policies.

Location data – Google offers location-enabled services, such as Google Maps and

Latitude. If you use those services, Google may receive information about your actual

location (such as GPS signals sent by a mobile device) or information that can be used to

approximate a location (such as a cell ID).

Unique application number – Certain services, such as Google Toolbar, include a

unique application number that is not associated with your account or you. This number

and information about your installation (e.g., operating system type, version number)

may be sent to Google when you install or uninstall that service or when that service

periodically contacts our servers (for example, to request automatic updates to the

software).

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Other sites – This Privacy Policy applies to Google services only. We do not exercise

control over the sites displayed as search results, sites that include Google applications,

products or services, or links from within our various services. These other sites may

place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal

information from you.

In addition to the above, we may use the information we collect to:

Provide, maintain, protect, and improve our services (including advertising services) and

develop new services; and

Protect the rights or property of Google or our users.

If we use this information in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then

we will ask for your consent prior to such use.

Google processes personal information on our servers in the United States of America and in

other countries. In some cases, we process personal information outside your own country.

Choices

You can use the Google Dashboard to review and control the information stored in your Google

Account.

Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to

refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some Google features and

services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.

Google uses the DoubleClick advertising cookie on AdSense partner sites and certain

Google services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web. You

can view and manage your ads preferences associated with this cookie by accessing the Ads

Preferences Manager. In addition, you may choose to opt out of the DoubleClick cookie at any

time by using DoubleClick’s opt-out cookie.

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Information sharing

Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of

Google in the following limited circumstances:

We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive

personal information.

We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted

businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf.

We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions

and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and

security measures.

We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such

information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal

process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service,

including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise

address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights,

property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.

If Google becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its

assets, we will ensure the confidentiality of any personal information involved in such

transactions and provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to

a different privacy policy.

Information security

We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or

unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. These include internal reviews of our

data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, including appropriate

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encryption and physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where

we store personal data.

We restrict access to personal information to Google employees, contractors and agents

who need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf. These individuals are

bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and

criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

Accessing and updating personal information

When you use Google services, we make good faith efforts to provide you with access to

your personal information and either to correct this data if it is inaccurate or to delete such data at

your request if it is not otherwise required to be retained by law or for legitimate business

purposes. We ask individual users to identify themselves and the information requested to be

accessed, corrected or removed before processing such requests, and we may decline to process

requests that are unreasonably repetitive or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort,

jeopardize the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests

concerning information residing on backup tapes), or for which access is not otherwise required.

In any case where we provide information access and correction, we perform this service free of

charge, except if doing so would require a disproportionate effort. Because of the way we

maintain certain services, after you delete your information, residual copies may take a period of

time before they are deleted from our active servers and may remain in our backup systems.

Please review the service Help Centers for more information.

Enforcement

Google adheres to the US Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of Notice, Choice, Onward

Transfer, Security, Data Integrity, Access and Enforcement, and is registered with the U.S.

Department of Commerce’s Safe Harbor Program.

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Google regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Policy. When we receive formal

written complaints, it is Google’s policy to contact the complaining user regarding his or her

concerns. We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data

protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that

cannot be resolved between Google and an individual.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your

rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We will post any Privacy Policy

changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice

(including, for certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes). We will also keep

prior versions of this Privacy Policy in an archive for your review

Indian law regarding misuse of information:-

Under the Information Technology Act 2000 Chapter IX Sec 43 (b)

“ If any person without permission of the owner or any other person who is incharge of a

computer, computer system or computer network,

(b) downloads, copies or extracts any data, computer data base or information from such

computer, computer system or computer network including information or data held or

stored in any removable storage medium;

he shall be liable to pay damages by way of compensation not exceeding one crore rupees to

the person so affected.

Ways To Secure Yourself

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Customer Security: Basic Principles

Most ecommerce merchants leave the mechanics to their hosting company or IT staff, but it

helps to understand the basic principles. Any system has to meet four requirements:

privacy: information must be kept from unauthorized parties.

integrity: message must not be altered or tampered with.

authentication: sender and recipient must prove their identities to each other.

non-repudiation: proof is needed that the message was indeed received.

Digital Signatures and Certificates

Digital signatures meet the need for authentication and integrity. To vastly simplify matters (as

throughout this page), a plain text message is run through a hash function and so given a value:

the message digest. This digest, the hash function and the plain text encrypted with the recipient's

public key is sent to the recipient. The recipient decodes the message with their private key, and

runs the message through the supplied hash function to that the message digest value remains

unchanged (message has not been tampered with). Very often, the message is also time stamped

by a third party agency, which provides non-repudiation.

What about authentication? How does a customer know that the website receiving sensitive

information is not set up by some other party posing as the e-merchant? They check the digital

certificate. This is a digital document issued by the CA (certification authority: Verisign, Thawte,

etc.) that uniquely identifies the merchant. Digital certificates are sold for emails, e-merchants

and web-servers.

Secure Socket Layers

Information sent over the Internet commonly uses the set of rules called TCP/IP (Transmission

Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). The information is broken into packets, numbered

sequentially, and an error control attached. Individual packets are sent by different routes.

TCP/IP reassembles them in order and resubmits any packet showing errors. SSL uses PKI and

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digital certificates to ensure privacy and authentication. The procedure is something like this: the

client sends a message to the server, which replies with a digital certificate. Using PKI, server

and client negotiate to create session keys, which are symmetrical secret keys specially created

for that particular transmission. Once the session keys are agreed, communication continues with

these session keys and the digital certificates.

PCI, SET, Firewalls and Kerberos

Credit card details can be safely sent with SSL, but once stored on the server they are vulnerable

to outsiders hacking into the server and accompanying network. A PCI (peripheral component

interconnect: hardware) card is often added for protection, therefore, or another approach

altogether is adopted: SET (Secure Electronic Transaction). Developed by Visa and Mastercard,

SET uses PKI for privacy, and digital certificates to authenticate the three parties: merchant,

customer and bank. More importantly, sensitive information is not seen by the merchant, and is

not kept on the merchant's server.

Firewalls (software or hardware) protect a server, a network and an individual PC from attack by

viruses and hackers. Equally important is protection from malice or carelessness within the

system, and many companies use the Kerberos protocol, which uses symmetric secret key

cryptography to restrict access to authorized employees.

Transactions

Sensitive information has to be protected through at least three transactions:

credit card details supplied by the customer, either to the merchant or payment gateway.

Handled by the server's SSL and the merchant/server's digital certificates.

credit card details passed to the bank for processing. Handled by the complex security

measures of the payment gateway.

order and customer details supplied to the merchant, either directly or from the payment

gateway/credit card processing company. Handled by SSL, server security, digital

certificates (and payment gateway sometimes).

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Practical Consequences

1. The merchant is always responsible for security of the Internet-connected PC where customer

details are handled. Virus protection and a firewall are the minimum requirement. To be

absolutely safe, store sensitive information and customer details on zip-disks, a physically

separate PC or with a commercial file storage service. Always keep multiple back-ups of

essential information, and ensure they are stored safely off-site.

2. Where customers order by email, information should be encrypted with PGP or similar

software. Or payment should be made by specially encrypted checks and ordering software.

3. Where credit cards are taken online and processed later, it's the merchant's responsibility to

check the security of the hosting company's web server. Use a reputable company and demand

detailed replies to your queries.

4. Where credit cards are taken online and processed in real time, four situations arise:

1. You use a service bureau. Sensitive information is handled entirely by the service bureau,

which is responsible for its security. Other customer and order details are your

responsibility as in 3. above.

2. You possess an ecommerce merchant account but use the digital certificate supplied by

the hosting company. A cheap option acceptable for smallish transactions with SMEs.

Check out the hosting company, and the terms and conditions applying to the digital

certificate.

3. You possess an ecommerce merchant account and obtain your own digital certificate

(costing some hundreds of dollars). Check out the hosting company, and enter into a

dialogue with the certification authority: they will certainly probe your credentials.

4. You possess a merchant account, and run the business from your own server. You need

trained IT staff to maintain all aspects of security — firewalls, Kerberos, SSL, and a

digital certificate for the server (costing thousands or tens of thousands of dollars).

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Security is a vexing, costly and complicated business, but a single lapse can be expensive in lost

funds, records and reputation. Don't wait for disaster to strike, but stay proactive, employing a

security expert where necessary.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Numerous studies have been conducted to study the customer perception about the

privacy issues in E marketing many parts of the world. An effort has been made to study the

customer perception in the preview of the studies or researches were carried out before.

Wang, Huaiqing, Matthew, Chen (1998). In their research identified that the term

privacy is usually described as "the right to be let alone," and is related to solitude, secrecy, and

autonomy. However, when associated with consumer activities that take place in the arena of the

electronic marketplace, privacy usually refers to personal information and the invasion of

privacy is usually interpreted as the unauthorized collection, disclosure, or other use of personal

information as a direct result of electronic commerce transactions. When it comes to the invasion

of personal information privacy, the types of personal information that are involved can be

classified into two major categories based on their nature.

Belanger, Hilleri, Smith (2002). This study stated that while the growth of business-to-

consumer electronic commerce seems phenomenal in recent years, several studies suggested that

a large number of individuals using the Internet had serious privacy concerns, and that winning

public trust was the primary hurdle to continued growth in e-commerce. This research

investigated the relative importance, when purchasing goods and services over the Web, of four

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common trust indices (i.e. (1) third party privacy seals, (2) privacy statements, (3) third party

security seals, and (4) security features). The results indicated consumers valued security features

significantly more than the three other trust indices. We also investigated the relationship

between these trust indices and the consumer's perceptions of a marketer's trustworthiness. The

findings indicated that consumers' ratings of trustworthiness of Web merchants did not parallel

experts' evaluation of sites' use of the trust indices. This study also examined the extent to which

consumers were willing to provide private information to electronic and land merchants. The

results revealed that when making the decision to provide private information, consumers rely on

their perceptions of trustworthiness irrespective of whether the merchant is electronic only or

land and electronic. Finally, it investigated the relative importance of three types of Web

attributes: security, privacy and pleasure features (convenience, ease of use, cosmetics). Privacy

and security features were of lesser importance than pleasure features when considering

consumers' intention to purchase. A discussion of the implications of these results and an agenda

for future research are provided.

Brown M., Muchira R., (2004). This study was carried out in the background that many

organizations now emphasize the use of technology that can help them get closer to consumers

and build ongoing relationships with them. The ability to compile consumer data profiles has

been made even easier with Internet technology. However, it is often assumed that consumers

like to believe they can trust a company with their personal details. Lack of trust may cause

consumers to have privacy concerns. Addressing such privacy concerns may therefore be crucial

to creating stable and ultimately profitable customer relationships. Three specific privacy

concerns that have been frequently identified as being of importance to consumers include

unauthorized secondary use of data, invasion of privacy, and errors. Results of a survey study

indicate that both errors and invasion of privacy have a significant inverse relationship with

online purchase behavior. Unauthorized use of secondary data appears to have little impact.

Managerial implications include the careful selection of communication channels for maximum

impact, the maintenance of discrete permission-based contact with consumers, and accurate

recording and handling of data. Keywords: privacy, trust, Internet, consumer, confidentiality.

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Friberg A. (2007). This study stated that Internet has become an essential tool in the

personal and professional lives of millions of people. Despite this pervasiveness, there is a

downside to using the web. When individuals go online, they leave behind digital footprints.

These data trails provide detailed information that can be captured, manipulated, and potentially

misused by public and private agencies, often without one’s knowledge or consent. Thus,

individual privacy is threatened at an unprecedented level. As recognition of this phenomenon

grows, the issue of privacy has increased in salience. Although online privacy research had

appeared regularly in the literature, there are still many issues left to explore. This dissertation

determined a link between individual concern for online privacy, information transparency, and

personality type. Researcher adopted a quantitative approach and derives the hypotheses from

previous studies. Empirical data was collected from a web based survey given to students at

Luleå University of Technology. Results showed that privacy concerns were linked to

information transparency. This presented a new reliable uni-dimensional scale that indicated how

much an individual valued the importance of information transparency. Using a brief personality

inventory also uncovered differences among personality types in terms of perception of privacy

and information transparency.

Castaneda, Montoso, Luque, (2007). This study attempted to carry out an approximation

both to the conceptual delimitation and to the measuring of customer concern for privacy on the

electronic market. To complete the objective of this research, an overview of the literature was

made in an attempt to summarise the main proposals as regards dimensions of the construct

analysed. Furthermore, two studies were carried out with the aim of evaluating the instruments to

measure concern for privacy on the internet and which supported the conclusion concerning the

construct's dimensionality, reached following the aforementioned literature overview. From the

main results reached, it was highlighted that the concern for privacy on the internet construct had

a structure consisting of two dimensions, which are confirmed through the scales evaluated for

different contexts of use of the internet. These dimensions were: concern for control over the

collecting of personal information, and its use on the electronic market. The paper's main

contributions were threefold: a conceptual revision of the construct; a proposal of the dimensions

for the construct; and an evaluation of two scales to measure the construct in different situations.

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Matthew W. Vail, Julia B. Earp. (2008) carried out a research to study the

customer perception and comprehension of Web site privacy policies. U.S. legislation at both the

federal and state levels mandates certain organizations to inform customers about information

uses and disclosures. Such disclosures are typically accomplished through privacy policies, both

online and offline. Unfortunately, the policies are not easy to comprehend, and, as a result, online

consumers frequently do not read the policies provided at healthcare Web sites. Because these

policies are often required by law, they should be clear so that consumers are likely to read them

and to ensure that consumers can comprehend these policies. This, in turn, may increase

consumer trust and encourage consumers to feel more comfortable when interacting with online

organizations. In this paper, we present results of an empirical study, involving 993 Internet

users, which compared various ways to present privacy policy information to online consumers.

Our findings suggest that users perceive typical, paragraph-form policies to be more secure than

other forms of policy representation, yet user comprehension of such paragraph-form policies is

poor as compared to other policy representations. The results of this study can help managers

create more trustworthy policies, aid compliance officers in detecting deceptive organizations,

and serve legislative bodies by providing tangible evidence as to the ineffectiveness of current

privacy policies.

Jiang X., Ji S. (2009) study stated that with the rapid development of e-commerce and

increased number of online transactions in the developing countries, consumer privacy has

become an important issue for e-commerce adoption. Although the issue had been addressed in

many previous studies, however, these studies were typically conducted in developed countries

in different cultural and institutional contexts. The purpose of this paper was to provide a

theoretical model of consumer online privacy concern and behavior intention to adopt e-

commerce taking into the consideration of demographic, cultural, and institutional factors based

on case analysis in a developing country.

Yang, Chao, Hung-Yi ., (2009). The study was carried out to study the effect of perceived

ethical performance of shopping websites on consumer trust. Trust is a key factor to the success

of electronic commerce (EC). Websites facilitate enterprises selling online but also generate

many problems, especially ethical issues that make customers hard to trust the sites. This study

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aimed at investigating the effect of shopping websites' perceived ethical performance on

consumer trust. Through an experimental study of the simulated shopping website, the result

showed that consumers will trust the website if they feel the site keeps a good EC ethical

performance such as practicing the privacy policies and stating it explicitly, describing products

or services in an appropriate way. This finding suggested EC vendors have a better

understanding of the relationship between website ethics and consumer trust. It may also

encouraged EC vendors to enhance their websites' ethical performance so they could gain trust

from customers.

Datta (2010), in her study referred that internet banking is a form of self service

technology. The numbers of Internet users have increased dramatically, but most of them are

reluctant to provide sensitive personal information to websites because they do not trust e-

commerce security. This paper investigated the factors which were affecting the acceptance of e-

banking services among adult customers and also indicated level of concern regarding security

and privacy issues in Indian context. Primary data was collected from 200 respondents, above the

age of 35, through a structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis, descriptive statistics was used

to explain demographic profile of respondents and also Factor and Regression analyses were

used to know trend of internet use and factors affecting e-banking services among adult customer

in India. The finding depicted many factors like security & privacy, trust, innovativeness,

familiarity, awareness level increase the acceptance of e-banking services among Indian

customers. The finding showed that in spite of their security and privacy concern, adult

customers are willing to adopt online banking if banks provide him necessary guidance. Based

on the results of current study, Bank’s managers would segment the market on the basis of age

group and take their opinion and will provide them necessary guidance regarding use of online

banking.

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RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Due to the advancement in technology, e-marketing is becoming very much popular these

days. Customers are also attracted towards the various services provided by the e-marketing and

the use of internet but some people do not feel comfortable in using e-marketing because of the

privacy and security issues. There are often some cases that come into light regarding the breach

of customers’ privacy. The main aim of this research is to study the customers’ perceptions

regarding the privacy in e-marketing, the ethical issues related to privacy and factors behind it.

Objectives of the study

To study the perception of customers regarding Privacy in e-marketing.

To study the ethical issues relate of privacy in E-Marketing.

To find out the factors behind the privacy issues.

To study the different steps as remedy for the privacy concerns.

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CHAPTER III

Research Methodology

Research Problem

Perceptual Study of Privacy issues in E marketing.

Research Design

The research design was exploratory and descriptive which helped me to explore the

Perception of customers and describe the ethical issues related to privacy in e- marketing.

Sampling Design

The study aimed at to survey from the respodents of Punjabi University Campus. So the

universe in the study is Patiala. And from the universe 100 samples were chosen. Sample is any

person who may or may not have the knowledge of E marketing. The respondents were selected

on the basis of convenience sampling.

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Data Collection

Both primary and secondary data have been collected for meeting the objectives of the

current study.

For the purpose of the collection of the primary data, On the basis of Review of

literature, certain statements were short listed, which are related to privacy issues or which can

define the ‘Title’. After it certain statements were clubbed together, redundant statements were

deleted and a final unbiased, undisguised structured questionnaire was made. It was administered

to the respondent for the purpose of getting the information.

For the purpose of secondary data, secondary sources of information like magazines,

newspapers, journals; studies conducted in past etc. had been referred. The main sources of

secondary data in the study are

1. Websites

2. Books

3. Journals

Analysis Techniques

The questionnaire was having the alternative choices. Questions having alternative

choices have been analyzed by taking percentages.

Scope of the Study

Scope of the study is limited to Patiala.

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CHAPTER IV

Demographic Analysis of Data

4.1 Age

Age Below 25 25-35 yrs 35-45 yrs 45-55 yrs Above 55 yrs Total

Response 33 41 22 4 0 100

4.2 Gender

Gender Male Female Total

Response 59 41 100

4.3 Profession

Profession Private sector Public sector Businessman Student Any other Total

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employee employee

Response 37 21 9 30 3 100

4.4 Qualification

Qualification 10+2 Graduate Post-Graduate Doctorate Total

Response 3 32 49 16 100

Analysis of the Responses

4.1 Access Internet facilities for any activity.

Yes No Total

100 0 100

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Analysis and Interpretation: All the respondents are Computer literate and internet users so all

the respondents use internet facility for some or other purpose.

4.2 Having Email Account

Yes No Total

100 0 100

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Analysis and Interpretation: As all the respondents use the internet facilities for their different

activities so all the respondents are having the email account. Many of the respondents are

having more than one email account.

4.3 E marketing caters to the computer literate person only.

Yes No Total

88 12 100

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Analysis and Interpretation: All the respondents are computer literate and use internet facility

so a large majority of the respondents think that E marketing caters to Computer literate persons

only because the term can be well understood by that person who uses internet facilities. Even

the internet users have not sufficient knowledge of E marketing.

4.4 Often do shopping.

Retail Stores Tele-Shopping E-Shopping All Total

70 6 8 16 100

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Analysis and Interpretation: Most of the respondents often do their shopping in Retail Stores

as compared to other sources. There is no doubt retail stores are the most convenient and

traditional way of purchasing things. So Online shopping and Tele-Shopping are very much

lacking in the popularity.

4.5 Frequency of buying things online.

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More than once in month

Once a month At least once in six months

In a year Never Total

5 30 10 3 52 100

Analysis and Interpretation: More than half of the respondents have never purchased anything

online. This shows lack of popularity of E marketing among the customers. Various reasons can

be given for it. Next response is favoring buying the things once in a month.

4.6 Greatest benefit of E marketing to marketer and consumer.

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Time Saving Awareness Easy accessible

All Total

39 16 5 40 100

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents feel that E marketing is easy

accessible, spread awareness and time saving from the point of view of both the marketer and

customer. However next majority is favoring that the greatest benefit of E marketing is time

saving.

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4.7 Read privacy policies of the company while sharing personal information.

Yes No Total

44 56 100

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents stated that they do not read the

privacy policies of the company while sharing their personal information online. Less than half

of the respondents read the privacy policy.

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4.8 Reasons for not reading privacy policy.

Too hard to understand

Too long Not organized well

No interest in reading it

Total

39 16 5 40 100

Analysis and Interpretation: Out of the respondents who do not read the privacy policies of the

company while sharing their personal information, majority of the respondents gave the reason

that it is often too long and time consuming. Rest of the respondents stated that they are not

interested in reading it and it is hard to understand.

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4.9 Types of privacy issues faced due to E-marketing.

Too much collection of data

Unauthorized secondary use of information

Improper alteration of data

Unwanted Communication

Total

26 36 12 26 100

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents feel that they major privacy issue that

they face due to E marketing is the unauthorized use of the information they share. It is the most

common privacy issue that is faced by an individual. Next type of privacy issues are the too

much collection of data by the online companies, unwanted communication and then improper

alteration of the data respectively.

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Level of preference to the statements

4.10 Customer is concerned about his privacy in E marketing.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Total

4 12 12 32 40 100

Analysis and Interpretation: A large majority of the respondents strongly favors the response

that customer is concerned about his privacy in E marketing. Reason is simple because

everybody has some privacy which no one wants to get violated in any way. Customer share his

personal information online, it is obvious that he will be concerned about its safety.

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4.11 Customer personal details are safe with online companies.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Total

5 40 35 17 3 100

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents disagree that the personal details of

the customers are safe with the online companies while other majority is giving neutral response.

As per the experience of the many respondents personal information is violated and it is used for

some other purposes in addition to the stated purpose. As a result customer personal information

is not safe.

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4.12 Online marketers are able to find out personal information through the

customer activities on their websites.

Strongly Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Total

2 10 34 44 10 100

Analysis and Interpretation: More than half of the respondents favors that online marketers are

able to find out personal information through the customer activities on their websites. They are

able to find out this information by certain programs and through cookies. Next is the neutral

response because they had no idea about it how they find out personal information.

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4.13 E marketers manipulate the information of the customer according to their

use.

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents agree to the statement that E

marketers manipulate the information of the customer according to their use. As it is known that

ultimate aim of the marketing is to market the product and E marketers do the same by

manipulating personal information according to their best possible use.

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4.14 Online marketers keep confidential the personal information of the

customer.

Analysis and Interpretation: Major response deny the statement that online marketers keep

confidential the personal information of the customer. Reason may be interpreted that mostly

there is unauthorized secondary access to the personal information which is given by the E

marketers to the other companies violating the privacy of the customer.

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4.15 Privacy and security of the Credit card and account is very important in E

marketing.

Analysis and Interpretation: Very large portion of the customers admits that the security and

privacy of credit card and bank account is very important in E marketing. There is no doubt in

the privacy and security of these two because online transactions are made through these.

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4.16 E marketing interferes in the children privacy through exposure of vulgarity

and obscenity.

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents feel that E marketing interferes in the

children privacy through exposure of vulgarity and obscenity. Sometimes the unwanted and

vulgar information is communicated to the internet user, who may be a child, through E

marketing which affect the children privacy.

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4.17 Privacy policies are explained thoroughly on the websites.

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents admits that Privacy policies are

explained thoroughly on the websites. These respondents are those respondents who read the

privacy policies of the company while sharing their personal information. Next response is the

neutral response regarding it.

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4.18 E marketers practice what they state in their privacy policy.

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents deny that E marketers do not practice

what they state in their privacy policy. It is violated through unwanted communication, improper

alteration of data and unauthorized use and in many other ways. Next majority is giving neutral

response regarding the statement that is not sure about it.

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4.19 The privacy of internet user is greatly violated.

Analysis and Interpretation: Majority of the respondents are giving the neutral response

regarding it. Perhaps they think that it is clear that the privacy of the internet user is violated but

up to some possible extent. Others think that the privacy is greatly violated in many ways.

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4.20 Consumer is aware of the legal and other implications on violation of his

privacy.

Analysis and Interpretation: About half of the respondents favor that consumer is aware of the

legal implications on violation of the privacy. Many implications may be the feedback or

customer grievance procedure or the other legal assistance based on various laws to protect

customers.

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4.21 Customer should be given more option regarding the use of his personal

information.

Analysis and Interpretation: About two third of the respondents feel that customer should be

given more option regarding the use of personal information by the E marketers so that customer

can have the eye on the use and misuse of his personal information and improper violation of

privacy can be curbed.

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CHAPTER V

MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1. All the respondents use internet facilities.

2. All the respondents are having at least one email account.

3. Majority of the respondents feel that E marketing caters to the computer literate persons

only.

4. Majority of the respondents often do their shopping from retail stores.

5. Most of the respondents have never purchased online.

6. Customers agree that E marketing is easy accessible, time saving and spread awareness.

7. More than half of the respondents do not read the privacy policy while sharing the

personal information.

8. Major reason for not reading privacy policy is that it is too long to read.

9. Unwanted Communication is the major privacy issue that is faced by the customers.

10. A large majority of the respondents strongly favors the response that customer is

concerned about his privacy in E marketing.

11. Majority of the respondents disagree that the personal details of the customers are safe

with the online companies.

12. More than half of the respondents favors that online marketers are able to find out

personal information through the customer activities on their websites.

13. Majority of the respondents agree to the statement that E marketers manipulate the

information of the customer according to their use.

14. Major response denies the statement that online marketers keep confidential the personal

information of the customer.

15. According to very large portion of the customers admits that the security and privacy of

credit card and bank account is very important in E marketing.

16. Majority of the respondents feel that E marketing interferes in the children privacy

through exposure of vulgarity and obscenity.

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17. Majority of the respondents admits that Privacy policies are explained thoroughly on the

websites.

18. According to majority of the respondents, they deny that E marketers do not practice

what they state in their privacy policy.

19. Majority of the respondents are giving the neutral response about the violation of privacy

of internet users.

20. About half of the respondents favor that consumer is aware of the legal implications on

violation of the privacy.

21. About two third of the respondents feel that customer should be given more option

regarding the use of personal information by the E marketers.

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RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESSTIONS

1. E marketers need to manage perceptions of privacy regulation. Policy efforts to improve

privacy protection should be clearly communicated to the customers.

2. Managers should look carefully at the concept of information transparency and its

relevant items.

3. Online marketers should provide sufficient privacy policy statements in a prominent

place on the website.

4. Privacy policy should include information about what kind of information the company is

collecting in the databases, how long they keep this information etc.

5. Privacy- and security-related to the third-party use of data may also reduce privacy and

security concerns.

6. Managers should also consider using multiple strategies to suit various audiences with

different levels of privacy concerns.

7. The company could offer assessments of risk in clear and simple terms, provide evidence

of past performance in terms of security and predictability, include indicators of

credentials or competence, and display customer feedback and/or testimonials.

8. It is important to offer easy ways to give control to users, which increases the likelihood

that the individual will provide the information needed for personalization.

9. It is suggested to improve and develop the legal and other measures to protect the

consumers’ privacy.

10. The gap exists between user perceptions of privacy policy representations and

how well users comprehend the policies should be reduced.

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LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study are based on the expressed opinion of the respondents.

Some respondents were hesitant in providing complete information.

The sample of the respondents is not representative of the total universe.

Another limitation lies in the measurement of attitudes toward online privacy in general.

Consumers may behave differently when making purchase decisions concerning specific

Web sites or product categories.

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CONCLUSION

The internet has created a new avenue for organizations to leverage technology to create

new revenue streams, lower the cost of doing business, improve customer satisfaction, and attract

new customers. Objectives such as these often compel managers to collect large amounts of

customer information to aid in their strategic decision making processes. Increasingly,

consumers are concerned that their information will be disclosed to third parties or used for

purposes other than those for which it was collected. Consumer concerns have only heightened

as media coverage of consumer privacy issues has increased over the past decade.

The research was conducted to have a perceptual study of privacy issues in E marketing. On the basis of review of literature questionnaire was developed for the collection of primary data. This research contributes to the

emerging body of research on privacy issues to address consumer privacy concerns involved in

online transactions. Privacy issues are very important from the point of view of customers as

well as marketer. The growth of business to consumer electronic commerce seems to be non-

stoppable. Yet, online shopping accounts very much less as compared to overall retail revenues.

For the future growth electronic marketing, barriers such as security and privacy concerns must

be torn down. The best way to get over barriers is to clearly understand how they work and why

they exist. Privacy policies are an effective way of establishing trust with consumers, but policies

that are incomprehensible may deter potential consumers.

In conclusion, privacy protection on the Internet demands a multi-tier approach,

involving organizations, governments and individual consumers. The conceptual framework can

be used as a general guideline for conducting comprehensive research into online privacy

concern and behavior intent from the consumer’s point of view.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

1. Savino, William M., “Protecting Online Privacy”, Marketing Management, Vol. 11,

No. : 49-51, 2002

Journals

1. Brown, Muchira (2004). “Investigating the Relationship between Internet Privacy

Concerns and Online Purchase Behavior”, Journal of Electronic Commerce Researcs,

Volume 5, Issue 1, Pt. 62-70

2. Peterson, R.A., Balasubramanian, S. and Bronnenberg, B.J. (1997), “Exploring the

Implications of the Internet for Consumer Marketing”, Journal of the Academy of

Marketing Science, Vol. 25, No. 4, pt. 329-46.

3. Sheehan, K. B., & Hoy, M. G. (1999). “Flaming, Complaining, Abstaining: How online

users respond to privacy concerns.” Journal of Advertising, 28 (Fall), pt. 37–51.

4. Garbarino, E., Johnson, M., 1999. “The different roles of satisfaction, trust and

commitment in customer relations”, Journal of Marketing, Vol 63 (2), pt 70–87.

5. Cheung, C.M.K., Lee, M.K.O., 2001. “Trust in internet shopping: instrument

development and validation through classical and modern approaches”, Journal of Global

Information Management, vol 9 (3), pt. 23–46.

Books

Websites

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VG3-475RJF6-

1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2002&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_

sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1721143547&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_

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version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9626fdcbb8036b35d11bf4e9c6758a9b&searchtype=a http:

//www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=856480&show=html

ANNEXURE

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would be extremely thankful if you spare some time to answer the following questions.

All the facts disclosed by you will be used for academic purpose only.

1. Do you access internet facilities for any activities?

Yes No

2. Do you have an Email account /address?

Yes No

3. Do you think that E marketing caters to the computer literate person only?

Yes No

4. Where do you often go for shopping?

Retail Stores Tele-Shopping E-Shopping All

5. How frequently do you buy things online?

a) More than once a month

b) Once a month

c) At least once in six months

d) At least once in a year

e) Never

6. What do you think is the greatest benefit for both the marketer and consumer of

E marketing?

Time saving Awareness Easy accessible All

Any other…………………

7. Do you read the privacy policies of the company while sharing personal information on the

web?

Yes No

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8. If not then why don’t you read the entire privacy policy?

a) Policy is too long hard to understand.

b) It is too long.

c) It is not organized well.

d) No interest in reading it.

9. What type of privacy issues do you mostly face due to E-marketing?

a) Too much collection of data

b) Unauthorized secondary use of information

c) Improper alteration of data

d) Unwanted Communication

Please indicate your level of p reference to the following statements.

StatementsStrongly

DisagreeDisagree Neutral Agree

Strongly

Agree

1. Customer is concerned about

his privacy in E marketing.

2. Customer personal details are

safe with online companies.

3. Online marketers are able to

find out personal information

through the customer activities

on their websites.

4. E marketers manipulate the

information of the customer

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according to their use.

5. Online marketers keep

confidential the personal

information of the customer.

6. Privacy and security of the

Credit card and account is very

important in e marketing.

7. E marketing interferes in the

children privacy through

exposure of vulgarity and

obscenity.

8. Privacy policies are explained

thoroughly on the websites.

9. E marketers practise what they

state in their privacy policy.

10. The privacy of Internet user is

greatly violated.

11. Consumer is aware of the legal

implications on violation of his

privacy.

12. Customer should be given more

option regarding the use of his

personal information.

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PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: _______________________________________________________________________________

Email: _______________________________________________________________________________

Age: < 25 yrs 25 – 35 yrs 35 – 45 yrs 45 – 55 yrs > 55 yrs

Gender: Male Female

Profession: Private Sector Employee Public sector Employee Businessman

Student Any other, _________

Qualification: 10+2 Graduate Post-Graduation Doctorate Any other, _______

Thanks for your Cooperation

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