Regulations and Ethics of Consumer Policy

Question: Discuss about the Regulations and Ethics of Consumer Policy. Answer: Introduction: Nowadays, ecommerce is becoming an increasingly common practice among the consumers since the year 1990 when the commercial activities were completely allowed on the internet. According to Xu et al., (2012), there is a clear sign of dissatisfaction among the consumers regarding the online advertising activities and marketing techniques. The key drivers behind this dissatisfaction are confusion in distinguishing among the legitimate and illegitimate advertisers. Another important factor that gives rise to this dissatisfaction is the privacy concerns and weak media planning. However, as per the market information collected while conducting the study it has been observed that online marketing techniques are aimed at generating effective information about the internet users in order to target them in an effective and efficient manner with the help of marketing techniques (Acquisti et al., 2015). However, though the online marketing and advertisement techniques has developed to a greater extent it has been observed that a large portion of the customers are still worried about their privacy, regulations of the website and thereby suffer form an ethical dilemma. Privacy of the Consumers: According to Weiss (2014), the term privacy is used to signify the fact of the right to remain alone and it is directly related to secrecy, solitude and autonomy. However, when amalgamated with the consumer activities that take place on the online market place, the term privacy is generally used to depict the personal information and the vanquishment of this privacy is regarded as unauthorized collection. Any other use of this personal information or disclosure will be considered as a direct result of this electronic commerce transactions. In accordance with the conquest of the privacy of the personal information of the customers, it can be classified into two major categories on the basis of their nature, On one hand, when the personal information is not expected to change over a certain period of time dramatically, it can be referred to as private information of static type (Agag et al., 2016). This type of information includes referential information, financial information, health information and personal beliefs and affiliations. On the other hand, the private information that frequently changes over a period of time but it can be collected and if analyzed in an effective manner a consumer profile can be generated. This type of personal information is regarded as the dynamic private information. This includes activity history or activity profile. After conducting interview with three active internet users, their feedback suggests that online consumers are more sensitive to their static private information as this can include their banking details and purchase history as well (Wu et al., 2012). The prior concern of the consumers in about the purchase history, the online activityand the websites they visit along with other personal information that can be gathered over the internet by the electronic commerce websites. There are people who are potential customers willing to make purchase online but are afraid because of the possibility of disclosure of these data. Therefore, the online marketing agencies along with the ecommerce websites should look after protecting this information so that the potential customers as well as the existing ones can make their purchase confidently (Conger et al., 2013). Regulations: Moreover most of the online customers suggest that there should be effective regulation for protecting their privacy in the internet market place. Their key concern is to protect the privacy rights of the consumers and it should be protected along with the benefits incorporated within the free flow of information (Martin, 2013). Protecting the privacy of these consumers can be undertaken by enforcing a number of regulations in a combined manner. The three main regulatory authorities are, Government:Promotion and implementation of the strong privacy laws established for both the public as well as the private sectors. The government should also establish an independent privacy commission that will supervise the implementation and strength of these laws. It must also take initiatives for educating the individuals about the privacy issues. Businesses:The businesses or the electronic commerce websites should implement self-regulation for the promotion and implementation of fair information practices. Individuals: The individualsshould adopt privacy intensive technologies such as secured networks and other security tools dedicated to protect information Ethics of the Consumers: As per the interviews conducted of the three individuals it has been found that the incredible growth of the ecommerce definitely imposes ethical issues in the way internet represents a brand new environmental framework for the unethical behavior. It takes a long time to incorporate morality in the electronic commerce businesses. According to Martin (2013), when the people does not possess the fear of being punished they automatically get themselves engaged in various inappropriate behaviors. The opening up online transactions has also made the way for various new forms of eerie behavior some of them comes in a new form and the othersare technologically updated versions of the long standing ethical debates. As per the respondents of the interview it is quite evident that the likelihood of occurrence of ethical transgression in electronic commerce transaction is higher if compared to the face to face transactions. Therefore, the ethical issues involved with the online transactions sho uld be dealt with optimum efficiency in order to protect the online consumers (MiltgenPeyrat-Guillard, 2014). Conclusion: In order to conclude it can be said that the essay has covered all the possible aspects of regulatory, ethical and privacy related issues associated with online transactions generally happening in the electronic commerce websites. While conducting the study a wide range of literature based on this regard has been reviewed and that has helped to gain a broader insight of these issues. On the light of the knowledge gained by reviewing these literatures and based on the response of the interviews conducted the entire study have been conducted. It has become clear from the study that respondents are well aware of the privacy, regulatory and ethical framework and thereby they remain cautious while performing online transactions. Reference List: Acquisti, A., Brandimarte, L., Loewenstein, G. (2015).Privacy and human behavior in the age of information.Science,347(6221), 509-514. Agag, G., El-masry, A., Alharbi, N. S., Ahmed Almamy, A. (2016). Development and validation of an instrument to measure online retailing ethics: consumers perspective.Internet Research,26(5). Conger, S., Pratt, J. H., Loch, K. D. (2013).Personal information privacy and emerging technologies.Information Systems Journal,23(5), 401-417. Martin, K. E. (2013). Transaction costs, privacy, and trust: The laudable goals and ultimate failure of notice and choice to respect privacy online.First Monday,18(12-2). Miltgen, C. L., Peyrat-Guillard, D. (2014). Cultural and generational influences on privacy concerns: a qualitative study in seven European countries.European Journal of Information Systems,23(2), 103-125. Weiss, J. W. (2014).Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Wu, K. W., Huang, S. Y., Yen, D. C., Popova, I. (2012). The effect of online privacy policy on consumer privacy concern and trust.Computers in human behavior,28(3), 889-897. Xu, H., Teo, H. H., Tan, B. C., Agarwal, R. (2012). Research note-effects of individual self-protection, industry self-regulation, and government regulation on privacy concerns: a study of location-based services.Information Systems Research,23(4), 1342-1363.