With the recent launch of Google Buzz, concerns about Web privacy were renewed and invigorated. Google Buzz's haphazard layout appeared to create the possibility that users could unintentionally broadcast their private emails throughout the Web. The protests were loud, and Google made fast security adjustments to their new Buzz product.
What is interesting is that so many people were immediately in-arms about the possible exposure of their private conversations, but inexplicably continued to trust the typical online sales process that requires sending credit card information to Websites that provided little more assurance than an Avatar. Where is the concern for Web privacy and security when purchasing products from any of the millions of small online marketers (How to make million$ on Google before noon today, etc.)?
Somehow, there is a serious disconnect when people are concerned about their "Buzzs" being released to the Web, but unfazed when providing their credit card number to anonymous marketers. These marketers may have demonstrated an ability to use keywords to get their Website discovered by surfers; but have done nothing in terms of providing personal identification except showcasing a blurry image of "their first check from Google".
Online in the darkness
Tom and Ray (names disguised), are two of many Web marketers who promise a great income, if you purchase their Website product. The two men can write great copy and offer a deal that seems too good to be true. Their personal photos on their Website feature two young men on a rocky beach with an ocean serving as backdrop. Expansive grins are plastered on their faces, as if to say: We're so rich, we could buy the Pacific Ocean! Or, is it the Atlantic? Maybe it's just Lake Michigan? Oh, well.
Their Website provides many testimonials from people like "Charles from Spokane". But as I read the glowing remarks, I realized that there were no last names provided for any of the customer reviews, nor were there last names for the site's owners - "Tom" and "Ray".
Why do we permit Web marketers to remain anonymous? Would any of us do business with a brick and mortar store where the owner refused to tell anyone his full name - especially if the transaction cost hundreds of dollars? Yet, it seems that, on the Web, people do it every day.
Contrast that with traditional businesses. Even if a store owner failed to give us a name, we know the store's location and we can easily return. Yes, there are "scams" in the real world, but the the virtual world makes scams far too easy.
Tom and Ray at home
I sent an email to Tom and Ray asking them, who they were, and where they lived? My reply was from their "secretary" who said they do not divulge that information out of concern for the privacy of Tom and Ray.
So, let me understand this. You want your customers names, their email addresses, and their credit card numbers - but you're concerned about your privacy? Really? I can find the real names of the Chairman of GM and Microsoft, but "Tom" and "Ray" are concerned about their privacy? I don't believe marketers have a right to provide false, misleading, or non-identification to customers. If not a name, then corporate identification with a physical address - no P.O. Box number, something that allows a buyer to track down a marketer, if it becomes necessary.
No Web privacy "right" for online marketers
I believe that there should be an additional standard for online marketing, compared to general bloggers or other non-business Websites. Currently, anyone with adequate SEO knowledge can drive a Web page to the top of Google search returns. A typical Web surfer might interpret that as a sort of quality endorsement, when in fact, it is merely a tribute to the marketer's SEO skills. I can't think of any reason why anyone who sells anything on the Web should not have a confirmed identity - either with Google or some other third party. It should be real confirmation, not the standard call-to-a-cell-phone number confirmation that is used so often.
An alternative to that idea would require privavcy-concerned marketers to use an independent third party (Amazon, Google or others) to provide the shopping cart for the transaction. These third parties would be required to have well-established refund procedures.
None of this would require new regulations. The major search engines could just give a significant search "boost" to marketing sites that included confirmed identities. If your site doesn't include a sales cart, then you can remain as anonymous as before. Privacy on the Web should favor the consumer, not the marketer.
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