Privacy

Amid the twists and turns coming out of 2021, we've seen some overarching e-commerce-related themes -- from changes in consumer privacy, to the growing prevalence of rewards incentives, to the changing role of financial services providers -- that companies should take note of as we move head in 2022...

A survey of 1,050 U.S. adult consumers found that 16 percent of the participants in the research took no action after receiving notice of a data breach affecting their accounts. Information from breached accounts can be used for identity fraud or to make employers vulnerable to cyberattacks, includi...

Shopper discontent with online retail sites is localizing to two major concerns. Spoiler alert: customer experience per se is not in this ranking. It is the need for caution that prominently leads shoppers to abandon their shopping carts. Results of a recent survey of more than 1,100 respondents con...

The impending loss of third-party digital cookies will soon force the e-commerce advertising industry to shift its strategies fast. These developments are issuing a real blow to advertisers seeking to leverage third-party data. At issue now is how brands will regroup from these substantial changes t...

Shouldn't you get paid when businesses use your personal information gleaned from the internet? How much is your personal data posted online worth to you? Would you register your personal data so that you get paid when companies track you and use your own data to target you for ads? That is precisel...

Major information technology providers opposed to the broadening of class action litigation related to consumer protections have taken their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The companies are hoping the court will strike down a lower court ruling which makes it easier for consumers to file class acti...

Apple's plan to release its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy enhancement feature in early spring has set the ad industry on its ear. ATT requires apps to get a consumer's authorization before tracking them or the devices they are using. Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is making good on a resolution to strengthen its enforcement of security deficiencies occurring in e-commerce transactions. The agency's recent action involving allegations of improper activities by teleconferencing provider Zoom Video Communications is a notable ex...

The U.S. Commerce Department is attempting to negotiate an agreement that would help thousands of U.S. companies comply with policies designed to protect the personal privacy of European citizens. Until the issues are resolved, U.S. companies will be operating in a twilight zone over how to ensure t...

Google is facing a class-action lawsuit for tracking people who used the Chrome browser's Incognito mode. Law firm Boies Schiller Flexner filed the complaint on behalf of people who used the privacy mode during the past four years. "Google tracks and collects consumers' history and other Web activit...

Life as we knew it before the coronavirus is gone forever, and many changes will manifest in the pandemic's aftermath. How will it impact privacy laws around the globe? No one knows for sure, and we will not know until after the coronavirus is behind us. Cybercriminals long have been taking advantag...

As the coronavirus pandemic worsened in the U.S., Zoom offered free access to its videoconferencing platform and demand skyrocketed. "Zoom has quickly become the de facto for teleconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic," said James McQuiggan, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4. "A lot of organ...

All eyes are on the West Coast as California reins in the unfettered collection, use and sale of the personal data consumers share as part of the bargain for "free" online services. For years this bargain has been explained in privacy policies that few people read, because there is not a lot of neg...

Apple shelved plans to give iPhone users control over encrypted backups stored on the company's iCloud service over concerns raised by the FBI and internal sources, according to a report. The company made the decision two years ago, but it came to light just recently. The plan would have removed App...