Consumer groups in the United States are pressing the government to enact laws to regulate the use of personal information gathered on the Internet. Industry leaders fear that such legislation will add significant cost and bureaucracy to their business. Asia's dotcoms should pay heed. Many Asian governments take the lead from the U.S. on policymaking and legislation involving the Internet. And even more than in America, Web companies in Asia have ridden roughshod over privacy concerns.
Many Web sites offer users scant or confusing information on where their personal data is headed.
Hong Kong's privacy commissioner recently estimated that seven out of 10 locally based Web sites break basic privacy laws that simply require them to state what they intend to do with the details that users input when they register. Their on-line movements are tracked by software attached to browsers. DoubleClick could then sell these user lists to other companies. The on-line world allows much easier distribution of data. To be fair, Internet users should buck up too.