Nuts & Bolts - Eye on Privacy : Find Safe Harbor in Privacy Policies

Even as we are confronted daily with bleak economic news, I find myself thinking about the old saw that “with opportunities come challenges.” I am comforted by this saying because I believe the reverse also holds true—challenges can be the bearers of opportunity. If you believe that, too, then these times may present opportunities like no other; at least since the last economic bubble burst.

On the privacy front, I am buoyed (my CEO currently is enamored with boat and ship metaphors—score one for me!) by the fact that as new business models are created and new partnerships formed (either by necessity or by newfound creativity), privacy continues to be top-of-mind.

I have seen this top-of-mind sentiment in action both within my own company, as potential partnerships and new business ideas are evaluated, and as a consumer. Even at a time when we’re all challenged by economic pressures, it is reassuring to see how so many organizations pay attention to privacy as they seek to leverage more or different data from multiple channels.

A few months ago, well after the economic ship started to list, I received an e-mail from one of the biggest consumer packaged goods brands in the world about changes to its privacy policy. It laid out in clear English—not the legalese that is so often tempting for us to default to—the changes the company was undertaking and how I then might change the way I interacted with the brand.

The e-mail politely thanked me for being a customer. It told me that the company changed its privacy policy. It reminded me of its commitment to maintaining my trust. It summarized the specifics of the changes, spoke briefly about the consumer benefits of the changes, allowed me to view the update and provided an easy way to unsubscribe.

A month later, a social network site prominently displayed a banner at the top of my homepage alerting me to updates to its privacy policy.

Then a prominent lead-generation site posted a very noticeable privacy policy update on its homepage.

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