Limiting Private Data Exposure in Online Transactions: A User-Based Online Privacy Assurance Model

Privacy conscious online shoppers find themselves forced to disseminate and share private data with new entities when engaging in online transactions. This paper provides a solution that limits private data exposure to entities that already have it. First, we provide a high-level classification of current privacy assurance practices. We identify three categories that are based on who is responsible for the protection of private data access and usage. Next, we present a detailed classification based on the degree of user anonymity and the degree of transaction traceability a privacy assurance model provides. Finally, we propose a new online shopping model that limits private data sharing to the userpsilas bank, which we argue does not constitute a new exposure of the userpsilas data.