A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Analysis of User-Privacy, Third-Party Data Sharing and Consent Mechanism on Online Pharmacy Websites in Ontario
Authors: Ibodeng, Atikor; Bhutto, Zuhaibuddin; Yan, Yan; Rauti, Sampsa; Leppänen, Ville; Adelabu, Adegboola David
Editors: N/A
Conference name: International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence
Publication year: 2025
Book title : 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence (PRAI)
First page : 902
Last page: 908
ISBN: 979-8-3315-7406-2
eISBN: 979-8-3315-7405-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/PRAI67447.2025.11412460
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11412460
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the privacy practices of online pharmacy websites in Ontario, Canada, focusing on data sharing with third parties, privacy policies, and the effectiveness of consent mechanisms. To achieve this, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using both automatic and manual network traffic analysis methods. We analyzed the traffic flow of 109 pharmacy websites, assessing the presence of third-party services, the transmission of data to third parties, and the availability and clarity of privacy policies and consent forms. Our study indicates that a significant number of pharmacy websites in Ontario share sensitive health information with third-party entities, such as Google Analytics and Facebook, even without explicit user consent. Additionally, many of these websites lack comprehensive privacy policies and effective consent mechanisms. We aim to create awareness of the limitations of third-party data sharing, the adoption of clearer and more accessible privacy policies, and robust consent mechanisms crucial for protecting the privacy of user data.