CS 492/CS 692 W04 Role-Playing Exercise 8

E-commerce data sharing

Team A

A group of senior managers at major e-commerce corporations who have formed a consortium to share data gathered from visits to their Web sites. They argue that consumers have already shown themselves willing to give away information about themselves in exchange for benefits such as informed recommendations on new purchases, and that such data-sharing is already in place for "club" cards from supermarkets, "Air Miles", and credit information. They offer opt-out services and their policies will be posted in full on all their Web pages.

Team B

A consumer research group, who argues that the accumulated loss of information is a considerable threat to privacy, that requiring the consumer to opt out rather than opt in is unacceptable, and that people don't read the fine print on Web pages.


Last updated Dec 16, 2003.