An examination of privacy policies of US Government Senate websites

U.S. Government Web sites are rapidly increasing the services they offer, but users express concerns about their personal privacy protection. To earn user’s trust, these sites must show that personal data is protected, and the sites contain explicit privacy policies. This research studied privacy policy protection of 50 U.S. Senate sites and found that few had comprehensive elements of privacy policies and a general lack of protection of personal data that could be obtain from the Web site. The study reviewed which specific privacy elements are most often mishandled, as well as suggestions for improving an overall online privacy practice.