Question

original question was

• Consumers and public interest groups are scrutinizing—and sometimes criticizing—the privacy policies of firms and raising concerns about potential theft of online credit card information or other potentially sensitive or confidential financial information. Others maintain online privacy fears are unfounded and that security issues are as much a concern offline. They argue that the opportunity to steal information exists virtually everywhere, and it’s up to consumers to protect their interests. What do you think?

* devil's advocate: One who argues against a cause or position, not as a committed opponent but simply for the sake of argument or to determine the validity of the cause or position

Offline security of one’s personal information is up to the individual. However, online information is hard to secure. Its security is based on the controls of the company that has the credit card information. Example, I can keep my wallet with me and if I leave it in the car I lock it up and make sure it is locked before going into the gym. These are things I can do. When I make a purchase online the information is stored by the company and if their controls are weak, hackers or unethical employees could obtain the information.

There are things a consumer can do to help mitigate possible credit card theft and use. For instance, most banks have a fraud monitoring department and alerts consumers can set up. So, I could set up an alert to text me anytime my credit card is used for more than $x.xx amount. If I’m sitting at dinner with my family and there is a text that comes through that says I just spent $x.xx at ??? (location) I can immediately call in to freeze my card and open a dispute. There are safeguards you can put in place, but in reality if the company has poor controls online then a consumer’s response is reactive vs proactive since they have no control over the data after they purchase online.

Companies should be aware of these concerns and devote time and effort into building a control infrastructure that limits the possibility of fraud and theft. They must also communicate this to the customer. In a day where identity and credit card theft is high, customers want to know there data is safe. If they fear that a company is irresponsible, due to other claims of theft, consumers will avoid the company all together. Just one issue can cause long-lasting effects. One example of consumer vulnerability is the Tylenol murders in 1982. Johnson & Johnson polled consumers after the incidents and found that the majority of consumers were not going to buy Tylenol again (Moore, 2012). Even after this breach of internal controls where consumers died, things had to change. In order to reassure customers after an incident, there has to be things done. Customers want to be reassured that new blocks or safety measures are put in place to avoid this next time. It’s the job of the CEO and upper executives to rebuild the brand image upon these new safeguards. James Burke, CEO of Johnson & Johnson did just that, he reassured consumers of their commitment to safety and helped introduce new tamper-proof containers (Friedman, 2010).

Companies must be vigilant and proactive in controls that safeguard not just consumer information but safety. Always forward looking for new trends and weaknesses in those trends that can be breached easily. We have enough history now to remind us to keep up on these controls so issues do not repeat themselves.

Please respond on 100-150 words

Answer 1