Online shopping and your privacy

Are you paying extra in unexpected ways?

By: Gavin McLintock

  So we survived the Y2K menace and the new century is gonna be great! Online shopping is here. Just like the catalogue sales of 100 years ago - but WAY better. Unending choices, low, low prices, instant price comparisons and fast - maybe even instant - delivery. It's wonderful! Right?
  Well - maybe. Online shopping can certainly be very convenient, especially if you live away from major centres, and you always can find many bargains. However, you may be paying for your purchases in ways you didn't count on.
 

Just the very act of "browsing the web" can reveal a great deal about you, and where you are from, to a webmaster who takes the trouble to find out

  Many - probably most - people consider browsing the Web to be a pretty anonymous activity. Sure, you have to give your credit card number to the online store when you buy something, and you obviously have to give them your address as well if the "something" has to be delivered. But that's not much different than dealing with a bricks and mortar business in your own town. Or is it?
  Actually, it may be. Just the very act of "browsing the Web" can reveal a great deal about you, and where you are from, to a Web master who takes the trouble to find out.
  To get an idea of what you are routinely revealing to others when you use the Web, surf to www.anonymizer.com and click on the link under the question "Who are you?" You'll probably learn a few things even you didn't know about your system, your Internet service provider and maybe even yourself.
  Then there is the information that many websites ask you to provide when you complete the online form in order to "register" to allow you to make a purchase. Do they really NEED to know your mother's maiden name? Or the name of your cat? At least, when you fill in their form, you know what information you've given them. You can decide if you'd rather take your business elsewhere instead of telling them your personal details.
  Which brings me to the matter of "cookies". "Cookies", in Web-speak, are small files that a website may store on your computer for its own use. These are files that you normally never see and that are deliberately stored on your computer by a website operator. The website, however, can retrieve these files in the future and use them in whatever way it wishes.
  For example, a website can use cookies to tell if it is you that is returning again instead of some other visitor. The site may also use cookies to tell it that last time you were at the site you bought some particular product or service and therefore, maybe, the website should show you some ads for accessories ... or whatever.
  It gets particularly troublesome when website operators start sharing this information with each other. Maybe the travel site that just sold you a trip to the tropics lets the associated vacation travel clothing site know - just in case they might want to send you an email advertisement. Unless you adjust your browser settings, the cookies get placed on your computer's disk drive without bothering to ask for your permission.
  Cookies aren't all bad - they are necessary for most online shopping carts to work. (The cookie is, in reality, the "shopping cart". It's where the website stores the information on what you want to buy).
  Whether you regard cookies as good or bad depends on how you feel about someone else storing information on your computer. My own view is that I don't mind it if I know it's being done, it's a vendor I trust and with whom I have a continuing relationship.
  Of course there are other ways that companies can track their customers / visitors. This past year has featured the revelation of several high-profile examples. Microsoft was caught building a "Globally Unique Identifier" (G.U.I.D.) into Windows 98 that identifies users every time they visit the Microsoft website and is attached to every document a user creates with Microsoft applications.
  Intel announced that a unique "Processor Serial Number", accessible by software programs and websites, is included in every Pentium III chip.
  RealNetworks popular RealJukebox Web music software program was discovered to be collecting personal information from users' hard drives and secretly sending it to the company.
  All three organizations were forced by public outcry to release "fixes" for the problems. Of course, the user has to be aware of the problem and know what to do in order to apply the "fix". For more information on these, and other privacy issues, see the article "The Searchable Soul: Privacy in the Age of Information Technology" in the January 2000 issue of Harper's Magazine.
 

Look for and read the vendor's privacy policy statement. If there isn't one (or you don't like the one you see), shop elsewhere

  The real questions are: "To what use is all this personal information about you being put?" and, "What can you do to control the collection and use of information about you?"
  First, as in any business dealing, make sure you know who you are dealing with. Avoid Web vendors who don't put any indication on their site of their physical location and how to contact a real person if you have any problems.
  Second, look for and read the vendor's privacy policy statement. If the vendor doesn't have one, or you don't like what the one they have says, shop elsewhere.
  Depending on how you feel about cookies, you might want to turn them off or restrict them in your browser. In Internet Explorer go to tools / Internet options / security / Internet Zone, click on the "custom level" button and scroll down to "cookies". In Netscape go to edit/preferences/advanced.
  In Internet Explorer, I select "allow per-session cookies (not stored)" and I ask to be prompted when a site wants to permanently store a cookie on my computer. In Netscape I select "accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server" and "warn me before accepting a cookie".
  If you want to look at the cookies that are already on your computer, surf to www.winmag.com/karen/ptcookie.htm and download the free WinMag cookie viewer. It will find the cookies on your computer for you - so you can then delete them if you want to - and show you what's in them. Interesting stuff, some of it.
  In Canada the government is in the final stages of passing Bill C-6, which will give Canadians a much stronger legal position when it comes to protecting their rights to privacy online. For a good overview, surf to the Web site of Canadian Privacy guru Murray Long at members.home.net/murraylong/html/ bill_c-6.html.
  While you're there, or if you'd like connections to privacy information in the U.S. or Europe, check out Murray's "links" page. Also check out the 10 principles for the protection of privacy, published in 1996 by the Canadian Standards Association and summarized on Murray's site.
  The advent of e-commerce promises all sorts of benefits to consumers and businesses alike. As with any business transaction, however, it pays to be informed and aware. Happy shopping.

Gavin McLintock has been messing around with computers, communications and media in the Ottawa area for a really long time.

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