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The Online Privacy Alliance, a coalition of nearly 90 global companies and associations dedicated to nurturing consumer privacy online, today applauded recent efforts by companies to use their advertising clout to encourage other Web businesses to adapt clear, comprehensive privacy policies and practices. Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group and Infoseek Corporation today announced that they will no longer accept nor purchase Internet-based advertising from Web sites that don't post clear policies regarding the collection and use of personal information gathered online. The new policy takes effect October 1. Last week, Microsoft announced that it would only advertise on sites that posted "comprehensive" privacy policies. Microsoft is the biggest advertiser on the Web, spending more than $34 million last year on Net advertising. IBM was the first of the OPA member companies to announce that it was linking advertising expenditures to respect for consumer privacy. The move caught the attention of the press and policy makers and caused mid-size and smaller companies to consider the importance of privacy to doing business in cyberspace. "A survey by AT&T earlier this year showed that 87 percent of Net users are concerned about threats to their personal privacy while online," said Christine Varney, advisor to the OPA and a former FTC Commissioner. "Businesses understand that these concerns are a top barrier to the continued growth of e-commerce and are putting their considerable advertising budgets behind increasing consumer privacy online." The OPA, which last year worked to increase the number of Web sites posting privacy policies, now is asking Web sites to review their policies to make sure they are up to par. A credible, useful privacy policy that meets OPA guidelines must provide consumers with information on what is being collected, how it will be used, consent to provide such information to others, access to that information, security for the information collected and enforcement of the privacy statement. For Web sites doing business with children, special consideration must be given to the information collected and prior parental approval must be obtained. The work of industry - including a great many OPA member companies - resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of Web sites posting privacy policies. In just a year, the number of Web sites posting such policies to inform consumers jumped from 14 percent to 66 percent. More than 94 percent of the 100 most popular Web sites now post privacy policies.
America
Online requiring all of its Certified Merchants to post privacy
policies that adhere to OPA guidelines.
The
Direct Marketing Association requiring thousands of its members
to comply with specific privacy standards by July.
Viacom's
Nickelodeon Online launching a series of online safety vignettes
to teach kids about online safety and privacy.
A complete list of individual initiatives undertaken by more than 50 OPA members companies and associations can be found at www.privacyalliance.org. Companies in the process of creating or reviewing their Web site's privacy policy should also visit the site and read the Guidelines for Online Privacy Policies and the Framework for Enforcement. The OPA also encourages companies to join a privacy seal program, such as those offered by BBBOnLine, CPA's Web Trust or TRUSTe and use the resources available at these Web sites to verify that a privacy policy is adequate. "Tremendous progress has been made in creating an online environment that nurtures privacy," Ms. Varney said. "The efforts by individual OPA companies are making sure that consumer privacy protections are the norm online." |
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