Protecting consumer privacy in e-business The digital age is coming. The editorial board of Blue Book Information and Social Science Literature Publishing House (2010) pointed out that “the volume of e-commerce transactions in China reached 3.85 trillion yuan in 2009.” The usage of e-business services has also been high among Hong Kongers. About 98.3% of all people have used e-business services such as Octopus Card and Automatic Teller Machine (Census and Statistics Department, 2009). One of the pitfalls to e-business development, however, is consumer privacy concerns. According to Green's (1999) survey, 54% of respondents had decided not to purchase a product due to a concern regarding the excessive use of personal information collected in e-business transactions. This essay examines the circumstance of protecting consumer privacy in e-business. As e-business grows at astronomical rates and consumer information is a kind of property, protecting consumer privacy in e-business becomes significant. This essay begins with the causes of the problem, and then moves on to analyze its effects. The essay finally concludes with solutions to the problem. Initially, the causes of the problem can be classified into three aspects: transfer of personal data to others without consumers' consent, lack of awareness of privacy protection, and leakage of personal data unintentionally. Personal data leakage can occur in the form of storing and transmitting personal data in an insecure manner and thus theft by crackers. There is no controversy about this lawsuit: apparently it is a crime, therefore not discussed in this essay. A common torment of companies is that of not being renowned. Consumers' personal information included... middle of paper...... Users may argue that this act prevents cold calling companies from existing in the market, but there is controversy. It is clear that consumers tend to reject phone calls when they are angry because they find that their privacy is being sold off. To conclude, given the importance of e-business, consumer privacy becomes an important concern. Selling consumer information and lack of privacy awareness are the main causes of the privacy problem. The problem causes damage to the image of companies, problems for consumers, loss of confidence in the rule of law and increased awareness of privacy and the related solution to deal with its consequences. Consumer privacy is an essential element in e-business. To further expand the use of e-business, each party should take responsibility to respect privacy and respect human rights.