Introduction

Over the past few years, the norms governing personal data interactions between consumers and websites have changed dramatically. There is an increasing moral sensitivity regarding the commercial collection and use of personal data. The social meaning of personal data collection has changed from a morally neutral to a morally charged status. Consumers now perceive a general right to privacy in cyberspace that includes respectful treatment of personal data. This change arose not by accident or necessity but from the intentional actions of actors possessing an interest in promoting online privacy. I will designate these actors as privacy norm proselytizers.

Social meanings attach to social norms; one method of changing social norms is to alter their social meanings. For example, changing the social meaning associated with smoking is one way to regulate cigarette smoking among teens. As long as smoking retains a cool and rebellious mystique, it will be difficult to eradicate the practice. Analogously, privacy norm proselytizers are in the process of changing the social meaning associated with websites' collection and use of personal data.

The set of normative concepts that increasingly surround the practice in popular discourse is evidence that consumers are developing a more complex normative understanding. Notably, interactions between websites and their visitors are increasingly framed in terms of privacy. Privacy is among the most potent normative concepts of the modern age. Proponents of personal data privacy have won a substantial victory now that data is widely understood to raise concerns for a new species of privacy: informational or data privacy.