An examination of privacy policies of US Government Senate websites

Abstract

U.S. Government Web sites are rapidly increasing the services they offer, but users express concerns about their personal privacy protection. To earn user's trust, these sites must show that personal data is protected, and the sites contain explicit privacy policies. This research studied privacy policy protection of 50 U.S. Senate sites and found that few had comprehensive elements of privacy policies and a general lack of protection of personal data that could be obtain from the Web site. The study reviewed which specific privacy elements are most often mishandled, as well as suggestions for improving an overall online privacy practice.

Trusting and Adopting E-Government Services in Developing Countries? Privacy Concerns and Practices in Rwanda

“…In Rwanda, there is a quite comprehensive e-government initiative aimed at improving the integration of government information and services to business and citizens [24]. In order to sustain this initiative, government organizations must find ways to build relationships with people within the new environment of e-government and work to increase citizens' trust.…”

“…Organizational privacy assurance are the practices that an organization applies to ensure service users that enough effort has been devoted to protect personal information [22]. Studies of e-government privacy practices focus on checking the availability of privacy policies on egovernment websites, assessing the comprehensibility and clarity of the available privacy policies and investigating users' level of awareness of privacy policies [23] [24]. Most studies conclude that an effective privacy policy reduces users' lack of trust in egovernment and unwillingness to use e-government services.…”

A Study of South Asian Websites on Privacy Compliance

“…Their results demonstrate poor availability of privacy policy on the websites and weak compliance with the local privacy standard. On the other hand, Kuzma et al analyzed 90 online pharmacy websites across nine different countries in Europe, Asia, and North America [31]. They show that the level of user data protection and privacy compliance is often very low even in those countries that have implemented strong privacy laws.…”

E-government effectiveness: a rocket model of contributing user-related factors

“…Data regarding citizen-government transactions, and the content of those transactions from online searches to online transactions, need to be highly secured and protected by the government in order to prevent misuse and fraud (Alharbi, Papadaki and Dowland, 2014;Dawes, 2008;Fang, 2002). Citizens must feel confident that private information they submit will not be lost, sold, or otherwise misused (DeBenedictis et al, 2002;Kuzma, 2010). This means that the higher the level of security of the e-government, the higher is the level of citizens' confidence and trust to use these systems.…”

“…Trust of the e-government refers to one's perceptions regarding the authenticity and ability of the agency providing the service (Carter and Weerakkody, 2008). With the uncertainty of using an open technological infrastructure, such as the internet; citizens need assurance that their online transactions, including personal information, are secure (Alharbi, Papadaki and Dowland, 2014;Kuzma, 2010). In order to support e-government initiatives, citizens must believe that the government agencies possess the technical skills and the technologies necessary to execute and secure e-government systems.…”