Week 3 EOC: Internet Privacy vs. Market Research

Internet privacy is a very important subject of our time. The reason why (in my personal opinion) is because almost everyone uses the internet and it is only right for those people that use the internet to have a little privacy from people that might hack into their computers and steal their information. “The right to privacy in Internet activity is a serious issue facing society. 1 Some users of the 'net wish to shield their identities while participating in frank discussions of sensitive topics. Cases of harassment and abuse have become increasingly frequent, aided by a cloak of anonymity. 2 There are also problems with frauds and scam artists who elude law enforcement authorities through anonymous mailings and postings.”http://www.netatty.com/privacy/privacy.html Internet privacy however, is not always answered by the law, sometimes your privacy is broken and you won’t even know that someone is hacking into your account. There are ways to protect you to have internet privacy, just know that it won’t always work. Market research in my personal opinion is companies asking you questions about their website and what you like about their website. This will usually pop up on the computer screen and it will be a survey. The reason why the companies do this is because they want to make their website better for you, because they want you to keep coming back to their website. Market research is “the gathering and evaluation of data regarding consumers' preferences for products and services.”http://www.answers.com/topic/marketing-research Market research is different from internet privacy because instead of people trying to steal your information; which is why you need internet privacy; market research asks for your information so they can make their website better for you. In conclusion I think that internet privacy is big issue because of the amount of information that can be sent out to be people just by hacking in your computer, while market research only asks you a few or a lot of questions to make their websites a better experience for you.