| Overview of
Comments GVU’s WWW Data Privacy User Surveys The comments contained in this document are being submitted at the encouragement of Martha K. Landesberg, Division of Credit Practices, Federal Trade Commission. These comments are intended to document recent developments in the following areas being discussed in Session Two on Consumer Online Privacy:
The data contained herein draw upon the data collected from GVU’s World Wide Web Data Privacy Surveys ( http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys ). The Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center (GVU) is an interdisciplinary department within the Georgia Institute of Technology and conducts the surveys twice a year as a public service to the Web and Internet communities. Started in January of 1994, the surveys continue to track emerging trends in core demographics, use of Web and Internet technology, electronic commerce, politics, and data privacy. The surveys are conducted on the Web by eliciting respondents from popular Web sites. While this survey methodology is non-random, the number of respondents per survey far exceeds typical surveys (a method called oversampling) and as a result, comparison of GVU’s results to random surveys do not indicate any bias in core demographics and other areas. Results from the latest survey, which is being conducted from April 10 to May 10, 1997 will be presented at the workshop along with a longitudinal analysis of consumer perceptions and opinions on online data privacy. These results speak directly to many of the questions raised in Session Two’s Invitation to Comment as well as to other questions on data privacy not specifically mentioned. Additionally, it should be noted that the authors of this document possess strong knowledge in the field of WWW site measurement, having spoken on the issues and underlying technologies at several conferences and workshops, including a recent workshop on Data Privacy sponsored jointly by the United Nations and UNICEF. |