The following scenarios describe portals that differ in the privacy policy and your anticipated usage of the portal. Here is a summary of the portal characteristics:
1. Promotion. For signing up you obtain frequent flyer miles from the airline of your choice. Generally frequent flyer miles are valued at two cents, however, depending on how miles are used, the value of a mile can vary from one cent to eight or nine cents. The online travel agent offers either
§ 250 frequent flyer miles (equivalent to $5 at 2 cents/mile)
§ 500 frequent flyer miles (equivalent to $10 at 2 cents/mile)
§ 1000 frequent flyer miles (equivalent to $20 at 2 cents/mile)
2. Time Savings. You are a frequent traveler, but you are sometimes flexible with travel dates. You anticipate to be a repeat visitor of the website to learn about the lowest available fare. You estimate that you will return to the online travel agent either:
§ Once a day, realizing time savings of 8h 20min per year
§ Once a week, realizing time savings of 1h 40min per year
§ Once a month, realizing time savings of 24min per year
3. Secondary Use. Regarding the use of your personal information the portal will state either:
§ Your information will not be used for any purpose other than providing travel information and facilitating purchases
§ Your information may be analyzed for other purposes, such as revealing your web-usage preferences
4. Error. The online travel agent will provide either:
§ No option to review your personal information for mistakes
§ Option to review your personal information and correct mistakes
5. Improper Access. Your personal information will not be accessible to people outside the online travel agent. For access from within the company, the portal will state either:
§ No policy on access to personal information
§ Access to personal information only by authorized personnel, who have been trained in privacy issues