Most people may believe that online activities are tracked more pervasively now than they were in the past. In 2011, we started surveying the online mechanisms used to track people online (e.g., HTTP cookies, Flash cookies and HTML5 storage). We called this our Web Privacy Census. We repeated...

Alan Westin’s well-known and often-used privacy segmentation fails to describe privacy markets or consumer choices accurately. The segmentation divides survey respondents into “privacy fundamentalists,” “privacy pragmatists,” and the “privacy unconcerned.” It describes the average...

Homo economicus reliably makes an appearance in regulatory debates concerning information privacy. Under the still-dominant U.S. “notice and choice” approach to consumer information privacy, the rational consumer is expected to negotiate for privacy protection by reading privacy policies and...

The Denalists' Deck of Cards is a humorous illustration of how libertarian policy groups use denialism. In this context, denialism is the use of rhetorical techniques and predictable tactics to erect barriers to debate and consideration of any type of reform, regardless of the facts....

In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, the authors propose a model for evaluating the costs to personal privacy imposed by uses of personal information. Under this proposal, the costs of information flows would be measured against Fair Information Practices, principles that set out the...

Offers of free services abound on the Internet. But the focus on the price rather than on the cost of free services has led consumers into a position of vulnerability. For example, even though internet users typically exchange personal information for the opportunity to use these purportedly...

This article introduces a transaction cost economic framework for interpreting the roles consumers play in social networking services (“SNSs”). It explains why the exchange between consumers and SNSs is not simple and discrete, but rather a continuous transaction with atypical attributes....

Payment systems that allow people to pay using their mobile phones are promised to reduce transaction fees, increase convenience, and enhance payment security. New mobile payment systems also are likely to make it easier for businesses to identify consumers, to collect more information about...

Online pharmacies are businesses that sell prescription-controlled drugs over the internet. Some online pharmacies operate illegally in the United States, by providing controlled pharmaceuticals without a prescription, and some pharmacies sell controlled substances. Online pharmacies are also a...

The shift to a digital information environment has brought many changes to law enforcement access to personal data. Now, by visiting a single website, such as www.cpgov.com, law enforcement can obtain a comprehensive dossier on almost any adult. That website was custom-tailored for law...