Create a 8 pages page paper that discusses a company’s obligations to protect customer information. People are making purchases online, making transactions through net banking and playing the share market through the net. The net is being used for every conceivable financial, social and cultural interaction. Every time there is an online interaction or an online transaction the consumer has to divulge some information to the business that he or she is dealing with. In certain financial sectors such as banking and insurance, very sensitive consumer information is handled and stored by businesses. As the computer and the Internet become ubiquitous the volume of such sensitive consumer information increases at a very rapid pace. Proper safeguard of this sensitive consumer information is an issue that is gaining increasing importance. If such information is used arbitrarily or falls into the wrong hands, it could result in very drastic consequences for the consumer.

On the Internet, the digital or virtual presence of an individual is established by the digital or virtual identity of the individual. The digital identity of an individual is defined by a set of parameters including the individual’s Social Security Number, bank account information, credit card information, etc. If these parameters are known to a second individual, he or she may falsely assume the identity of the original individual and carry out financial and other transaction on behalf of the original individual. These transactions could result in huge financial and other losses for the victim and unlawful gains for the perpetrator. The perpetrator thus indulges in identity theft of the victim. Again, sensitive information of the consumer, financial or otherwise, could be unscrupulously utilized to gain a business advantage or make profits at the cost of the consumer. Measures therefore had to be adopted, and rules and regulations formulated so that care is taken by all businesses to provide adequate protection and safeguards to consumer information in their possession.