Privacy

The early definition of privacy was "the right to be let alone". But since the late nineties of the nineteenth century, a lot has changed. As we create a bigger and bigger "data shadow" just by living normally, it becomes more about "the right to claim ownership of data about oneself". And data is a very malleable concept these days.

In short, we should take the means to try and keep the data about the site visitors to the minimum, to ensure a working site. We need not even store personal data; in most countries it is quite possible to match a person to an IP-address. Moreover, we should not gather more information about our visitors than necessary to process their requests.

But why, I hear some of you asking, shouldn't we gather the information? There is nobody other than us to read it anyway. In general, this may be true, but where I live, numerous illegal lists with personal data have made it into the news, while companies which got broken into because of shoddy security had to pay out high sums as compensation. Hackers are increasingly targeting sites to get access to the customer database. So giving them nothing for their work is a winning proposition.

With that out of the way, let us take a look at how to learn more about our users to enhance their experience.