IP: Online Companies Squander Publicīs Trus

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/biztech/articles/08digi.html

November 8, 1999

DIGITAL COMMERCE

Online Companies Squander PublicÂīs Trust

By DENISE CARUSO


If dot-com companies are really trying to inspire consumer confidence as they embark upon what could well be their 
make-or-break holiday season, they must be taking oxymoron pills. Under the hot light of recent scrutiny, their 
increasingly questionable business practices are becoming public, casting long overdue doubt on the credibility of much 
of the commercial Internet. 

The fact that the Internet allows people and companies to misrepresent themselves with impunity is well known to online 
veterans, who after years of sending and receiving April Fool's gags and imitation news releases look askance at 
everything they get online unless they can verify its source. 
But the juggernaut that is now the consumer Internet has foisted an avalanche of half-truths, lies-by-omission and 
outright fraud on a new, more naive online population. Unsophisticated Net users rarely question who or what is 
operating behind their computer screens and, thus, are far easier to snooker. 

Their complacency is not completely unwarranted. The Internet, particularly the Web, looks a lot like a computer 
version of print or broadcast media. But it is neither. As a rule, it has not adopted the kinds of standards and 
practices that are assumed in traditional media, where advertisements and paid announcements are labeled and conflicts 
of interest are, at least in theory, disclosed as a matter of course. 
.
....

Some Internet companies are doing a good job of disclosure and, in fact, are using it as a selling point for their 
services. For example, the online bill paying service Paymybills.com, makes virtually all information about its 
service, its company, its policies, partners and business practices available within two clicks of its home page. 

"We're in the business of consumer trust," says John Tedesco, the chief executive of Paymybills.com. "We consider the 
language on our site to be a legal contract with our customers. If it ever leaked out that we didn't abide by our 
policies, it would destroy our business. So we clearly disclose, and we hold by them." 

Contrast this with Amazon.com, which promised after its paid-reviews debacle to make the company's policy more visible. 
Amazon has buried its disclosure at the very bottom of its lengthy "Site Guide" page, beneath a link called "Co-Op 
Disclosure" -- not exactly a descriptive title, or the first place a consumer might look for such information. 

...