Analysis of the Privacy Policies of Nigerian Online Shops
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Date
2018-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin
Abstract
Although privacy policies are posted by commerce websites to address privacy concerns of Internet shoppers including detailing their information practices on such policies, consumers seldom read and understand these policies. This study investigated privacy policy statements of 30 online shopping companies in Nigeria against the Fair Information Practice (FIP) principles. The privacy policy statements were examined and a checklist of 32 questions generated from the FIP principles was employed in carrying out the analysis. Findings from the study showed that most of the policies do not comply with the FIP principles entirely. The evaluated readability score (Flesch-Kincaid grade level, Flesch reading ease, the Gunning fog index and the SMOG readability formula), showed well above acceptable thresholds especially for public documents. However, majority of the policies showed proximity in terms of access as they can be reached through a single click from the landing page and contained how the information collected will be used. The study recommends that efforts should be made towards limiting the content and complexities of the policy statements using appropriate techniques and technologies and a regulatory body should be in place to review the privacy policy statements of online shops.
Description
Keywords
Privacy policy, Online shops, Nigeria, websites, Consumers, Fair Information Practice
Citation
Bello, O. W., Oyekunle, R. A. and Adeyemi, R. (2018). Analysis of the Privacy Policies of Nigerian Online Shops. International Journal of Information Processing and Communication (IJIPC). 6(2); 347-361, Published by Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin. Available online at https://ijipc.com.ng/index.php/ijipc/article/view/225/135