The debate over the protection of personal information on the Internet is heating up with about 300 privacy bills pending in the House and Senate.
Online companies depend heavily on tracking consumer information freely through cyberspace.
Consumer advocates, on the other hand, argue that the privacy of citizens is being compromised through such sharing of information. Both Democrats and Republicans say they are eager to protect privacy but are leery of impeding the progress of e-commerce. Jean Camp is an associate professor of public policy and the author of the recent book, Trust and Risk in Internet Commerce , which argues that trust is a function of privacy, security and reliability. The onus should be on the company. Each company has only a handful of policies, while the consumer visits dozens, maybe hundreds, of sites a week.