User privacy has been a paramount concern on both sides of the transaction from the earliest days of electronic commerce. While the buyers are hesitant about sharing their personal and financial data on ecommerce sites, online sellers are scared of violating regulations and facing wrath of law enforcement agencies that could result in heavy fines or even closure of the business.

Besides privacy, the world of e-commerce has been struggling against freedom of expression, security of intellectual property, and rights, powers, and limitations of marketers for collecting information about consumers on the web.

It is worthwhile to note here that government, law-making and enforcement agencies, and citizen-advocacy groups are still struggling to define and execute workable ecommerce guidelines that will satisfy all parties in the world of commercial Internet.

The issue has further been aggravated by the presence of data collection technologies such as web crawlers, cookies, and web cameras. Computing and networking advancements have also increased the fear of invasion into private lives. The use of technical means for tracking down surfing habits and purchase tendencies of existing and potential consumers by the use of cookies and sniffers for capturing data, while in the course of transimissions, has raised many privacy concerns in the cyberspace. Despite the fact that not all data mining procedures bring harm to consumers, data mining is still a form of intrusion into privacy of someone in the cyberspace.

Requisites of a Good Privacy Policy

Consumers should read the privacy policy of an ecommerce site before disclosing any personal or financial information. The privacy policy should clearly describe all information the website collects, explain why the information is collected, what would be done with the collected information, who all have access to the information and under what circumstances, and describe any control the visitor has over the process.

Moreover, consumers should be able to request their data not be shared and companies must offer notice and choice before data is provided to any third party. A good privacy policy should allow consumers the access to data about them and the ability to correct the mistakes, if any. In addition to that, well-defined procedures must be in a place for settling complaints and resolve disputes.

The Positives

In today’s times, more and more business leaders are of the view that companies that breach privacy of consumers will be punished by the market forces to the extent of business losses and even closure while those who protect privacy will be rewarded with increased sales. This is the primary reason why one could find many businesses that have clearly defined privacy policies on their websites and allow opt-out avenues for site visitors who do not wish to submit personal information online.

Companies that violate their own privacy policies are made to pay heavily by law enforcement agencies due to breach of contracts and deceptive business practices or false advertising.

Conclusion

Privacy is something that needs to be handled with a great sense of caution and diligence by ecommerce sites but that is not the case. Privacy theft is one of the biggest reasons why most consumers are still hesitant to buy online fearing about identity theft and sharing of critical data. The government and law enforcement agencies need to be clear while drafting and executing online privacy laws so that there is no place for malpractices and ecommerce can become the most preferable mode of doing business by everyone in the near future.

On Monday, Toshiba Corp of Japan said it is planning to enter the smart home energy market in the United States at the end of this year. The company expects to generate 10 billion yen ($129.68 million) in revenue by the fiscal year ending March, 2016.

The company will use Swiss-based Landis+Gyr that it bought in a $2.3 billion deal last May for moving into the smart grid market in the United States.

Toshiba said it expects the small community business to generate 900 billion yen ($11.67 billion) global sales by fiscal year 2015 and 140 billion yen ($1.82 billion) in sales to be generated in the United States.

On Monday, Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigned with immediate effect. Hildebrand remarked he could not prove he had been unaware of a currency trade made by his wife and wanted to protect the integrity of the central bank by moving out.

Hildebrand’s wife Kashya, a former hedge fund trader, bought 400,000 Swiss francs ($418,000) worth of dollars on August 15 three weeks before her husband oversaw steps to cap the rise of the safe-haven franc and then sold the dollars at a higher rate.

“I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to provide conclusive and final evidence that my wife did indeed initiate the foreign exchange transaction on the 15th August without my knowledge,” Hildebrand said.

“Philipp has been instrumental in helping to manage the response to the global financial crisis and in developing major reforms to strengthen the resiliency and stability of the international financial system,” FSB chairman and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said.

Deadline for completion of the planned merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext has been extended to March 31 next year as they seek to convince European regulators to back the $9 billion deal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission was told by the exchanges that they were exercising their right to extend the initial termination deadline of December 31 2011. Authorities in Europe are fearful that the merged entity will have a monopoly in European futures and options and have sought remedies from the exchange that between them has over 90 percent of European trading, to address this concern.

In November, the exchanges offered concessions including pinning-off parts of NYSE’s futures trading business and offering open-access to D.Boerse’s clearing unit to rival exchanges but these were rejected by European officials.

In a new move, Salesforce.com Inc is entering the business of selling human resources software. This move would raise the stakes in its battle to woo customers away from bigger rivals SAP AG and Oracle Corp.

On Thursday, the provider of web-based software for managing sales, customer service, and marketing said it has agreed to purchase Rypple, a closely held company with 350 customers including social networking giant Facebook. The deal is expected to close in the quarter ending April 30, 2012, Salesforce said. The acquisition was described as the first step in an effort to build out a line of web-based human resources software for corporations.

Dragged by losses in the euro, most Asian currencies, and local shares, the Indian Rupee (INR) weakened on Monday. This was after renewed fears of recession in the United States and sustained worries about the euro zone debt crisis prompted investors to sell riskier assets.

The partially convertible rupee was at 45.92/93 to a dollar, 0.3 percent weaker than its previous close of 45.79/80 at 11:39 a.m. (0609 GMT).

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up at 74.876 points, from 74.506 at close of domestic currency markets on Friday, while the euro was at $1.4166, from its $1.4249 previous close.

Data last Friday showed U.S. employment growth ground to a halt in August, while the European debt crisis continued to fester with Greece and its international lenders now at odds over whether it has met conditions for a new aid tranche.

“Overall sentiment in the market is rupee negative and there is no flurry of activity as market holiday in the U.S. means that outflows will not take place,” said a senior foreign exchange dealer at a private-sector bank.

Financial markets in the United States will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Policymakers were urged by Corporate America to enter into a bilateral investment treaty with India.

America Inc feels that this would be the next key step after the civil nuclear deal to strengthen and deepen trade and business ties between the two largest democracies of the world.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

The USIBC announced it will take the lead to develop a working group with its Indian counterparts to trade ideas on the elements needed for a successful US-India economic arrangement, including details about market access in goods, the free flow of services, regulatory coherence, high technology trade, intellectual property rights, procurement and greater movement of professional workers.

In his capacity as USIBC Chairman, McGraw called on business and government leaders in both countries to find ways to work together to build on that momentum and create new economic growth that will lead to more jobs.

“Our two countries have shared values, shared beliefs. The strategic partnership between the US and India rests on the successful growth of commercial ties and I am optimistic we can find areas of cooperation that will lead to more dynamic, two-way growth,” he said.

“India’s growth story is compelling nations around the world to seek stronger commercial ties with India by negotiating their own trade and investment agreements,” said Harold “Terry” McGraw III, chairman, president and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The Indian economy grew at a buoyant pace at 8.5 percent that was in line with the market expectations. However, the Q4 GDP numbers were below estimates at 7.8 percent.

Manufacturing in Q4 grew at 5.5% vs 16.3% YoY. Q4 agricultural sector grew by 7.5% vs 0.7% YoY. Mining sector grew at 1.7% vs 8.9% YoY.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

Analysts say that investments had taken a beating in the last quarter due to high inflation and bearish market. They believe that this trend might continue in the first quarter of FY12 but might consolidate by the second quarter.

Economists and government officials have recently revised downward their expectations for the current financial year, citing rising crude oil and other commodity prices and doubts about economic recovery in developed nations.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at the weekend he was confident that India would achieve 8.5 percent growth this year, helped by expectations of a normal monsoon which is crucial to economic expansion.

Inflation would be a big concern in the short term and might affect the consumption rate, according to the CBS.

Oil prices rebounded by about $1 today as investors focused on strong demand growth in Asia after a sell-off the previous day triggered by a surprise increase in U.S. gasoline stockpiles.

Brent crude for June gained $1.02 to $113.59 a barrel by 0504 GMT to partly reverse a 4 percent drop on Wednesday when official data showed the first increase in U.S. gasoline inventories in 12 weeks.

From news.yahoo.com:

“In the United States they are more concerned about the unexpected rise in gasoline inventories and the sputtering economic recovery,” said Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Assets Securities in Hong Kong.

“But over in Asia we have a more bullish view. Even if we see weakening in Chinese industrial output, it is still very strong and we don’t believe in a hard landing.

“Inflation has peaked, so we believe tightening policies will be done by the end of the third quarter. Oil demand will remain elevated in the run-up to the winter.”

Implied oil demand in China, the world’s second-largest crude consumer, reached its third-highest level on record last month, but year-on-year growth slipped to 8.8 percent after six consecutive months of double-digit gains.

At the current pace, China has surpassed a growth rate of 5 percent to 7 percent in oil consumption suggested in a Reuters poll earlier this year.

The Brent crude gain triggers a slump across fuel markets that shaved more than $5 from front-month Brent. U.S. crude advanced $1.06 to $99.26.

The New Zealand government has outlawed unauthorized Internet file sharing in what could be a first major step by a country to thwart online piracy.

The new legislation allows penalties and has a provison to cut off Internet access for repeat offenders for up to six months, effective from September 1, 2011.

From Media.cbronline.com:

The penalty of up to NZ$15,000 ($12,000) would be paid to the copyright owner of the content being shared.

The move is intended to protect the creative industry including music, videos and books.

Commerce Minister Simon Power said, “Online copyright infringement has been damaging for the creative industry, which has experienced significant declines in revenue as file sharing has become more prevalent.”

Power added, “This legislation will discourage illegal file sharing and provide more effective measures to help our creative industries enforce their copyright.”