Cookies and Electronic Commerce: A Survey About Actual Knowledge of the Issues Concerning Privacy

Abstract

This paper discusses the issues concerning cookies and privacy and electronic commerce. After analysing the European and national legislation about protection of privacy and distance selling and electronic commerce, the attention is focused on consumers actual knowledge of cookies. The second part of the paper is a survey realized in 2010 in two high schools of Modena. The survey uncovers that the knowledge about cookies and related issues is superficial. The paper concludes that there are many instruments to protect consumers' privacy while they are surfing on or buying in the Internet. However there is the need to improve the effective knowledge of the so-called cyberconsumers about cookies and issues concerning privacy.

Keywords: Data Protection, Online Privacy, Consumers, Electronic Commerce, Cookies, Profiling

JEL Classification: K39, D18