Online Shopping Privacy
Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Different legal jurisdictions have different laws concerning consumer privacy, and different levels of enforcement. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise not to use consumer information for these purposes, or provide a mechanism to opt-out of such contacts. Many websites keep track of consumers shopping habits in order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers’ credit cards often without their knowledge to add them to a catalog mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash. Any time you use your credit card online, your identity is at risk. Organized crime factions from all over the world have streamlined the process of extracting your personal details from all sorts of places, especially shopping sites. These attackers can harvest thousands or even millions of credit cards in one fell swoop.
Having a privacy policy posted online doesn’t necessarily protect you and keep your information private. Although you may be reassured by seeing a logo or seal of an independent monitoring agency that seemingly promises a private, secure transaction, you should also read the policy. Monitoring organizations may not dictate the privacy policy site owners must follow; they may only require the seller to abide by the privacy policy they have in place, whether or not it is a good policy. These organizations are usually not liable for anything if a seller does not follow the terms of its posted privacy policy.
Privacy should be the first important thing that is respected and one should be aware of people that want to scam you of your money. Some of the sites might look real to you but the best thing to do is to compile a research and then take it from there.


