Privacy-Enhanced Web Personalization

Consumer studies demonstrate that online users value personalized content. At the same time, providing personalization on websites seems quite profitable for web vendors. This win-win situation is however marred by privacy concerns since personalizing people's interaction entails gathering considerable amounts of data about them. As numerous recent surveys have consistently demonstrated, computer users are very concerned about their privacy on the Internet. Moreover, the collection of personal data is also subject to legal regulations in many countries and states. Both user concerns and privacy regulations impact frequently used personalization methods. This article analyzes the tension between personalization and privacy, and presents approaches to reconcile the both.