Strategies for reducing online privacy risks: Why consumers read (or don't read) online privacy notices
Abstract
Online privacy notices are intended to promote consumer choice and reduce the risks of disclosing personal information online. However, these effects result only if consumers read and use the information contained in the notices. This study used an online survey of 2,468 U.S. adult Internet users to investigate why online consumers read privacy notices across a variety of situations. We found that reading is related to concern for privacy, positive perceptions about notice comprehension, and higher levels of trust in the notice. This suggests that effective privacy notices serve an important function in addressing risk issues related to e-commerce. We further found that reading privacy notices is only one element in an overall strategy consumers use to manage the risks of disclosing personal information online.
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Up to 97% of users accept terms and conditions without fully understanding them.
“Research shows that up to 97% of users accept terms and conditions without fully understanding them 32,42,43 .”
From Privacy in consumer wearable technologies: a living systematic analysis of data policies across leading manufacturers (2025) · cites this paper as [32]
Many companies are incentivised to gather and monetise extensive amounts of user data, often concealing the scope of these practices behind dense, difficult-to-read privacy policies.
“Many companies are incentivised to gather and monetise extensive amounts of user data 31 , often concealing the scope of these practices behind dense, difficult-to-read privacy policies 32,33 .”
From Privacy in consumer wearable technologies: a living systematic analysis of data policies across leading manufacturers (2025) · cites this paper as [32]
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- Authors
- Milne, G. R., & Culnan, M. J.
- Venue
- Journal of Interactive Marketing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-08
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 15-29
- ISSN
- 1094-9968
- 1520-6653
- Cited by
- 431
- References
- 4
- Language
- en
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