Embrace privacy.

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner, told representatives of a number of Ontario companies that the most successful e-commerce businesses will be those that respect their customers' privacy. The Commissioner stressed that companies that embrace privacy are demonstrating to their clients and, perhaps more importantly, potential clients, that they are listening to what the public is saying.

Concern about informational privacy in the marketplace has risen in tandem with the rapid development of new technology. Consumers not only want goods and services, but increasingly want assurances that the personal information they provide to a business will be kept confidential, unless they consent otherwise, said Cavoukian.

The Commissioner cited numerous survey results detailing the public's concern about privacy. Survey data shows:

* 88% of Canadians are adamantly opposed to companies selling, trading or sharing lists of customer information -- with other companies - without their consent;

* 80% of Canadians believe that their personal information should be kept completely confidential. (Both statistics are from an Angus Reid poll, October 1998.)

"It's a real catch-22," said Cavoukian. "The very technology that makes e-commerce possible, the backbone underlying all of e-commerce, namely the Internet, is the same technology that has led to a renewed interest in privacy, precisely because of its glaring absence on the Net. Ultimately, the future of e-commerce will be based on consumer confidence and trust. When your competitor is only a mouse-click away, trust will be a strong competitive advantage."

Any company that wants to retain its clients, any company that wants to grow, should have consumer privacy as one of its basic tenets. "How can you retain clients, who are concerned about how their personal information will be treated, if you are not publicly addressing their concern?" she says.