the OECD s 29 member countries, aims to offer guidance on guideline compliance and

to help organisations develop privacy policies and statements for display on their web 

sites. 

By making the generator freely available online, it is hoped that it will help:

  foster awareness of privacy issues amongst website owners, 

  increase awareness among visitors about privacy practices on the websites that they

browse, 

  encourage user and consumer trust in global networks and electronic commerce. 

The generator can be located at the website: 

http://cs3 hq.oecd.org/scripts/pwv3/pwhome.htm

Privacy and access

 It's none of their business  is what survey respondents said when they were asked why

they did not want to provide organisations with personal information,  Australian 

Federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton said.

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He launched three major

research works commissioned by his office, in which 59 percent of respondents felt this

way regarding income, and 80 percent regarding health information. 

The research shows that Australians regard privacy as an important and highly 

personal value, but it also reveals that people are willing to strike a balance. In the right

circumstances, 43 percent of respondents said that they would be willing to provide 

personal details in return for more efficient and personalised services. More than 40 

percent of respondents said they had refused to deal with organisations because of 

concerns over the use and protection of their personal information. Significantly, 14 

percent of respondents said they had decided not to deal with government organisations

because of privacy concerns.

Trust is integral to business relationships with clients, and this survey tells us that in

order to gain client trust, business and government will need to put their customer  in

the driver s seat  when it comes to customer information. 

The New York State Archives (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/pubs/recmgmt/egovern 

ment/policies.htm) provides guidelines for privacy for government organisations. They

suggest that before engaging in e government, a security and privacy policy needs to be in

place. Staff should be made aware of the policy, and details about it should be posted on

the website for citizens. Trust can be gained among citizens if the latter are assured that

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