Overview

The overwhelming adoption of the Internet as a tool for conducting commerce has resulted in two competing forces that are constantly at odds with one another in a very public forum. Specifically, ease of access needs to be counterbalanced against security and privacy needs.

Actually, for quite some time this fundamental paradox has existed between security and privacy and information access. However, the "battleground" for these competing forces has typically been within the technology and systems realm, occurring mostly behind the scenes and away from the forefront of businesses' main-stream operations.

The Internet, however, has brought this issue to the forefront. In addition, one of the key components of e-commerce and doing business over the Web in general is to capture information on consumers and partners so that the electronic presentation of information can be massaged to more effectively market, sell, or serve customers. The collection, organization, categorization, and distribution of information about individuals, and the groups they belong to, causes many concerns about "how much" information is enough and what information should be kept private and what information should be open to the public.