Users and Data Protection in Electronic

Based on the results of computer aided telephone interviews (CATI) and a web based questionnaire the author describes the dynamics of sociodemographic and psychographic human centered influences on the diffusion of Electronic Commerce. Items like the socioeconomic embedding of new technologies as electronic payment systems, related psychological and technological questions as trust , safety, security and privacy are identified as being of greatest importance to make users feel comfortable with (business to consumer) electronic commerce. 1.0 Subjective Safety Aspects A topic being currently the subject of intensive public debates is the development of the Internet towards a global virtual marketplace with new chances for suppliers, traders and consumers. One of the major challenges and, at the same time, basic prerequisite on the way to a successful realization of this scenario is the creation of a safety environment with respect to the Internet. This includes objective aspects like the clarification of technical, economic and legal requirements as well as their implementation and creation of a subjective feeling of safety among all participating parties. The latter aspect constitutes a central point of the opinion survey presented in my paper and is also the main topic on which my statements are focused. In an initial question the participants were asked to assess the safety in the transmission of confidential data over different media (CATI, n= 1000). The replies to this question emphasize that currently very little confidence is put into the usage of the new media email and WWW, (Fig.1.1). Im comparison with the established forms of communication, a noticeably weaker safety feeling is expressed with respect to the secure and unfalsified transmission and forwarding of confidential information that is relevant for a commercial transaction. Only 22% of the participants of the representative poll expressed the feeling that the WWW is a very or fairly safe transmission medium 1 The WWW-based opinion survey was conducted in October/November 1997 and was answered by 691 participants; at the same time a telephone interview action with 1000 representative online-users took place in order to generate statistically valid data. The survey was ordered by Deutsche Telekom AG, Technologiezentrum Darmstadt and essentially carried out by the Fraunhofer Institut Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung, Department Informationand Communication Systems as well as the Südwestfunk, Department Media Research.