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Online Shoppers are Willing to Pay More for Privacy

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-ask-don't-tell dept.

Caroline Matische writes "People are willing to pay more to buy items from online retailers who make their privacy policies clear, a new Carnegie Mellon University study showed. People were more likely to buy from online merchants with good privacy policies and were also willing to pay about 60 cents extra on a $15 purchase when buying from a site with a privacy policy they liked."

6 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Why privacy matters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Privacy is central to our dignity and our basic human rights. Privacy ensures and protects our rights to free assembly and free speech, especially in areas where the governments would seek to curtail these rights. The right to privacy ensures our autonomy in the world and in our affairs. Think of your information as a gift you give to agencies and people you trust. How do you feel when any gift you give is "regifted." How do you feel when something you say in confidence is repeated and spread through your community, whether that is your office of group of friends. How would you feel if a friend gave your phone number out to every person who asked them. How would you feel if a friend revealed an embarrassing medical condition you had or a financial problem you were struggling with. Thinking of privacy in these terms helps you to see why your privacy is an important part of your life.

    1. Re:Why privacy matters... by Original+Replica · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "At what point does the intrinsic need for privacy override the need to prevent societal decay? "

      Privacy has a lot of grey area to it, and I think different places in that grey area are appropriate in different circumstances. Sexual predators might need to be known to the local police and school officials, but not the media. Politicians' campaign donations need to be known to the media, but are not of special concern to local police. The trick is who gets to decide, what info is databased and shared. If someone goes to the doctor for an STD medication, should that info be attached to their online dating profile? If someone is in Alcoholics Anonymous, should their children's teacher be informed?
      There is a difference between allowing someone's reputation to follow them, and having institutionalzed gossip. But it's a tough call as to exactly where that difference lies. http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=237213&cid =19375351

      --
      We are all just people.
  2. Ridiculuous by Rinisari · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's ridiculous. Users should expect, no, demand privacy, not have to pay for it. Privacy should already be there, because the user has to trust the company to handle their data correctly.

    I won't trust a company that makes people pay for "extra privacy." That screams distrust to me.

    --
    Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
    1. Re:Ridiculuous by Bongo+Bill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not that good companies charge more. It's that bad companies charge less, because they have no obligation not to use that information to turn an additional profit.

      --
      ...but is it art?
  3. What this means by obeythefist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is that now every shoddy internet business is going to have a big serious looking "we care about your privacy" notice stuck somewhere prominent (but not prominent enough to displace advertising).

    They won't change their actual privacy policies or anything, and they'll still leak credit card details etc. to the highest bidders.

    Think I'm being cynical? Maybe. But think about it, this is bound to happen.

    --
    I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
  4. Isn't privacy a right? by wikinerd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Customers pay for service. If they are willing to pay more for privacy, this means that privacy is equated with a service that can be bought. Since then is privacy something you buy? Isn't privacy a right? Should we pay to enjoy our rights? I am afraid that the blatant lack of privacy has made even the customers to abandon the idea that they have this right as an unrealistic romantic ideal and accept the harsh reality that in today's corporate jungle there are no rights and everything can be sold and bought.