Fears that personal information will be abused cost etailers millions of opportunities and dollars, yet industry continues to oppose regulations that might make ecommerce more pervasive and profitable. One major growth impediment is low levels of consumer trust in the privacy and security of Web transactions. That's because the Internet wasn't designed with privacy in mind.
Capitalism is rampant, in part due to economic synergies of networking.
Now that the Net has become a major trade route, safe passage on this superhighway depends ever more on common courtesy and obeying rules of the road. Data collectors must disclose their information practices before collecting personal information from consumers. Consumers must be allowed to specify whether and how their personal information may be used for purposes beyond those for which it was provided. Consumers should be able to view and contest the accuracy and completeness of data collected about them. Data collectors must take reasonable steps to assure that information collected from consumers is accurate and secure from unauthorized use.