Privacy : Plug the Internet Peep Hole

Sammanfattning: The Internet is a relatively new technology that has developed explosively during the last 10 years. The Internet-technology has been accepted rapidly by users, but the legal and ethical aspects have not been updated at the same rapid rate. Trust in electronic services or products is founded on knowledge and an understanding of what happens during a session and of the effects that might occur. Within electronically based services there are obvious risks for invisible and undesired results such as intrusions on privacy. In the traditional relationship of a service provider and a user, the question of privacy is clear, whereas in the new, Internet-related relationship between a service provider and a user, it is not. We have performed an informed survey concerning privacy, carried out through interviews. From the answers in the interviews it is clear that the threat against privacy is perceived as a problem, but that it is overshadowed by other issues such as safe conducts of payment, functioning distribution systems and reclamation etc. This could be due to the difficulty of addressing an intangible problem such as privacy when there are other issues that are as important and easier to address since they concern an actual purchase. To increase the trust of the users in the Internet and e-commerce branch, we believe that the Internet peephole needs to be plugged from within the branch. A user should neither have to worry about where his or her personal information goes or who has access to it nor for which purpose it will be used. The users must be made aware of what threats their information faces and which certificates that can protect it. If the providers of products and services on the Internet do not gain the trust of the users, in the end, cyberspace will be a desolate place.