The time has come for business to view privacy protections as a potential competitive advantage and not a threat. As evidenced by the rush to hire CPOs, update privacy policies and articulate their company's position on privacy, it is clear that many businesses have realized that they must now address the privacy issue, by incorporating privacy into their business models. Companies like Microsoft, IBM, and American Express have all started to build privacy into their core infrastructure. It is already clear that privacy will be to the early 21st century what environmentalism was to the late 20th century. Polls continue to show that privacy concerns are keeping people off the Net and prevent those who are from engaging in relationships with business.
Security is the process of managing risk and placing the necessary controls on information.
Privacy, however, is the larger concern that will dictate how security is implemented. Privacy is different from security in that privacy concerns itself with all aspects of data, whereas security is concerned only with access and protection. But both privacy and security are necessary components of a safe online environment for Internet users. These users are now demanding full Internet functionality with complete privacy built-in, and they are looking to the businesses they interact with to provide that protection. This fact needs to be recognized and incorporated into privacy protection policies developed by the business community.