Are human rights threatened by online business activities? The short answer is yes. Yahoo and Google's missteps in China, retailer and bank data thefts by online criminals, U.S. telecoms data sharing with the NSA are all examples business responses to external factors contributing to this risk.
A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the increased use of tracking devices used on major corporate web sites to identify detailed information about users visiting those sites. Ostensibly, information collected is used for marketing purposes but the risk to individual privacy poses serious long-term concerns to the online public and equally serious risks for businesses.
The range of the external cyber-risks facing public companies is increasing daily: theft of customer data, malware, online espionage, are just a few of the more common risks. As companies and states respond, pernicious technologies are emerging that pose equally problematic challenges for companies that step over the line.
In addition to defensive business activities online, market research tools like those described in the WSJ article are becoming a growth industry. Details of our private lives that most of us wouldn't consider discussing over dinner with friends are routinely extracted from us when surfing the Net. Yet the public remains largely unaware of these intrusions.
As the Internet becomes the primary conduit for business, the associated risks increase. To what degree do companies identify these potential risks? From a governance perspective, what should boards of directors do to ensure that these risks are considered as part of a larger business strategy?
