Chapter 28: Understanding the Importance of Privacy

Part VII

Applying Key Principles of Privacy

Chapter 28

Understanding the Importance of Privacy

Until now, this book has focused on security. However, a book on securing your network would be incomplete without a section on protecting the privacy of the data that your company collects. Many companies collect information about their customers, but doing so carries a lot of responsibility. Protecting your customers privacy will go a long way toward winning their trust. Today, consumer trust in companies protecting their privacy is at an all-time low. According to a survey by UCO Software, Inc. released November 7, 2001, in 2001 online and offline retailers lost $6.2 billion in sales because of privacy issues. (See http://www.cyberdialogue.com/news/releases/2001/11-07-uco-retail.html for more information.) In addition, according to a survey by Culnan-Milne, that same year, 64 percent of consumers reported leaving a Web site they had been browsing because of privacy reasons. (See http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/glb/supporting/culnan-milne.pdf for more information.) This mistrust has negatively impacted both Internet commerce and traditional retail sales. One bad experience with a Web site can diminish a user s desire to do business with any site or traditional retailer.

Consumers are more closely scrutinizing how companies handle personal information. Your company probably stores data for employees, customers, partners, and business entities. You will need to set up policies for handling information from each of these groups. In addition, depending on the type of data or the age of the person from which you are collecting data, you will need to comply with specific regulations such as HIPAA, GLBA, and COPPA, which are described later in this chapter. Neglecting to do so can cause you to lose business and lead to unwanted legal entanglements.

Whether your company is in the service, manufacturing, or retail industry, your total revenues will be affected by how much your customers trust you. Think about the companies that you refuse to do business with simply because you do not trust them. Perhaps you refuse to shop online because you do not trust a Web site to safeguard your personal information. It is your job to avoid becoming one of those companies.

You have probably received literature in the mail from companies with which you do business informing you of their privacy policy. Your company should also have a privacy policy and an infrastructure in place to guarantee it. This chapter, Chapter 29, Defining Privacy for the Corporate Web Site, and Chapter 30, Deploying Privacy in the Enterprise, will describe the various intricacies of privacy and the measures you can take to help build a sound privacy infrastructure for your enterprise.