Top High-tech Firms Rank Poorly on Online Customer Privacy and Responsiveness, Says The Customer Respect Group

Top High-tech Firms Rank Poorly on Online Customer Privacy and Responsiveness, Says The Customer Respect Group

The Customer Respect Group - June 6, 2005

The Customer Respect Group released its second quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study on the largest high technology companies. The study found that 27 percent of all online inquiries were ignored, and only 20 percent received responses within one day that were considered helpful. Overall, HP and Xerox scored highest, garnering "excellent" ratings, while Toshiba and Siebel Systems scored lowest.

“We were pleased to see an overall increase in the industry’s CRI scores since the last report,” said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group. “But we continue to be concerned that the high-tech industry, which we believe has the know-how to do even better, hasn’t yet found the will. The gap between firms at the top and the bottom -- especially in the area of Privacy and Responsiveness -- is increasing, which implies that while some companies see the commercial value in respecting the customer and investing accordingly, others are being left behind, which may negatively affect their brand and company reputations.”


Summary results

Two Web sites received “excellent” CRI scores (8.0 and above), including HP and Xerox. Across more than 1,000 Web sites measured in the last 12 months, just three percent qualify for this rating.

At the other end of the table, two Web sites were rated “poor,” (4.0 and below) including Toshiba and Siebel Systems.

Privacy

The Customer Respect Group sees an overall improvement in the category of Privacy, however most of this improvement can be attributed to significant improvements among the top ranked companies:

Some 10 firms now score “excellent” for Privacy, up from six in the last report. Leading the pack in Privacy are IBM, HP and Veritas.

At the bottom of the Privacy index was Siebel.

Despite the improvements in Privacy, scores and practices continue to be inconsistent.
The industry scored only about average compared with all other industries surveyed in the sharing data of personal data with third parties. Nearly one-third of firms are unclear or share data with third parties.

Tasmania's new Smart Card causes privacy concerns

Published by Tim Jeanes in The World Today - Monday, 6 June , 2005.

ELEANOR HALL: A potential lifesaver or an Orwellian tool of Government?That's the core of a debate emerging over a new Smart Card being offered to Tasmanians swapping over their Medicare cards from today. The new cards can be used to gain access to a patient's medical history, an important new medical tool according to proponents, but civil libertarians aren't so sure.In Hobart, Tim Jeanes reports.

TIM JEANES: On the streets of Hobart this morning, the issue was generating a wide range of opinions.

VOX POP 1: I think it's a good thing. I think it's important that people have all that information at their fingertips in case of an emergency.

TIM JEANES: So you wouldn’t have any privacy concerns?

VOX POP 1: No, not at all.

VOX POP 2: I don't think that's good actually. There's people out there that you don't want people to know their business.

VOX POP 3: That's how society's going – identification and personal information's going to be available, it's happening now, and I think it's probably inevitable. Personally, yeah, I'd give it a go, yeah. I think it'd be okay.

TIM JEANES: That option is now a reality as of today, for any Tasmanian whose Medicare card expires. It's part of a widening trial with the new card containing a digital chip instead of a magnetic strip.The card doesn't store information, instead it provides access to patient information stored elsewhere. It's this aspect of the trial which civil libertarians say could be open to abuse.Greg Taylor is the Chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia.

GREG TAYLOR: These things have the potential to become a Big Brother tool in which your entire life history is recorded in one place and available to those who wish to utilise that information.

TIM JEANES: But what if it could genuinely save lives?

GREG TAYLOR: Well, that remains to be seen. We don't have an objection to the card per se, but we believe that there should be protections built in so that future uses of the card for purposes other than it was originally designed should be subject to very careful scrutiny.

TIM JEANES: Some opponents of the card are comparing it with the controversial Australia Card proposal of the 1980s, which sparked mass rallies around Australia. It's a suggestion rejected out of hand by Special Minister of State, Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz.

ERIC ABETZ: This Medicare Smart Card is nothing like an Australia card. As technology develops, we as a government, I think, have a responsibility to see how we can deliver for the benefit of our citizens.

TIM JEANES: Senator Abetz says the practical applications of the card will be a big step forward for doctors and their patients.

ERIC ABETZ: A good example might be retirees travelling in their caravan in Queensland, one of the retirees gets a bad cut, goes to a doctor and the doctor wants to know when did you last have a tetanus booster. The important thing is to ensure that the only people that have access to your medical records are people that you personally authorise. As is the case now with physical records, as is the case now with electronic records, all that the card would be is basically a card that would access information for you.

LEANOR HALL: Special Minister of State Eric Abetz ending that report from Tim Jeanes.

Consumers Vulnerable to Profiling, Price Discrimination

Published in Epic news.

A new report released by the Annenberg Public Policy Center shows thatconsumers are largely unaware of how their personal information is usedby businesses, and they object to behavioral profiling, pricediscrimination, and the purchase of their personal information fromdatabase companies. The report also found that the respondentsincorrectly believe that "laws prevent online and offline stores fromselling their personal information," and that "stores cannot charge themdifferent prices based on what they know about them."

The report isbased on a phone survey of 1,500 Internet-using adults. It focuses ontwo trends that are driven by the collection of personal information:behavioral targeting, where individuals are presented different productsbased on their shopping habits; and price discrimination, whereindividuals are charged differently based on what the business knowsabout consumers.Using "first degree" price discrimination, a company can determine themaximum that an individual is willing to pay for a product, and engagein "dynamic" pricing. This enables sellers to hawk the same products atthe same time to different people at different prices. Dynamic pricingis even easier to employ in an online environment, where users aretracked by registration data and cookies.

Privacy2000.org

The Privacy2000 website is home to comprehensive information about the nationally renowned Privacy2000 conference series. In addition, the site provides links to the latest national and international news on privacy & security issues, and a headline archive that dates back to 2000.

Finally, the Privacy2000 website houses the Presidential Privacy Archives, a repository of electronic materials related to privacy, security, and encryption from the White House and other executive agencies dating from 1996 through the present.

Privacy2000 is brought to you by the Technology Policy Group (TPG) part of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State .

Freedom is slavery

Freedom is slavery is a website about freedom and technlogy, and as we can read in its manifesto.

This is an independent website, the work of one individual citizen and not affiliated with any political party or movement. This site is PRO: God, freedom, free thought, free expression, human rights and the individual. This site is ANTI: war, big government, big brother, police state, censorship and the right wing

They have a full list of links, such as 1984's novel by George Orwell.