Online Privacy and Consumer Protection: An Analysis of Portal Privacy Statements

The advent of information technologies has raised public concern regarding privacy, as documented by the results of several surveys. Although extensive, online privacy statements seldom provide explicit reassurance that consumer information will be kept confidential and will not be exploited. This research examines these privacy statements to determine their overall utility. We evaluate the overall efficacy of privacy statements and focus on the language, format, privacy reassurances, complexity of legal and technical terms, and perceived statement credibility. A content analysis of privacy statements reveals that privacy statements do not always protect customer interests as much as they serve as legal safeguards for the companies involved.