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Consumer
Privacy Requirements and Resources
Paul
J. Gibler
Consumer privacy is
becoming an increasingly important issue for both online
and offline marketers.
A recent Harris Interactive Survey of 2,810
consumers found that 56% of respondents were very
concerned by the potential loss of personal privacy.
Consumers are especially concerned about the
following:
- How
marketers use the information they provide
- Whether
information is being shared or sold to others
- The
security of the financial information they provide
- What
is being tracked through their online behavior
- How
information is being aggregated with offline data
for consumer profiling
For
online marketers, these consumer concerns are driving
increasing attention to online privacy issues.
In addition, new and potential regulatory
requirements, recent case settlements and industry
guidelines are leading online marketers to create,
improve or increase their compliance with privacy
guidelines. Among
the laws establishing requirements that could impact
online marketers are the following:
For
information related to online privacy, the following
organizations can help you with guidelines, resources,
third party audits, policy development etc.
Your
privacy policy should include the following items: a
clear consumer notice of what data is being collected,
an opt-in or opt-out choice regarding information
collected, consumer access to the information collected
and a guarantee related to the integrity and security of
the data maintained.
One of the key factors that consumers are
expecting is that companies comply with their privacy
policies. This
concern is supported by a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers
study that found only 19% of companies were complying
with their own privacy policies.
Reprinted
from the October 2000 Madison Ad Fed Newsletter
See
other Privacy
Resources
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