The evaluation of privacy policies

Many people do not like to send virtual postcards to friends or to give their credit information online because of real and imagined dangers of spending money on the Internet. Unfortunately, some online companies will share or sell your information to third parties or flood your mailbox or mailbox with unwanted solicitations. However, reliable companies, who care about and respect their customers, to alleviate these concerns through a good privacy policy.

A privacy policy should fully disclosing tell you exactly how information is used and with whom they share your information. The privacy policies should be easy to find and understand and it is important that you read them first to share your personal information.

All have different privacy policies, but a good policy offers protection by implementing the following practices:

1. Do not sell, share or release personal information to third parties

Some sites, especially free ones, sell your personal information to spammers and advertisers. The fine print will tell you many of the disclosures that they share your information with their partners, but should provide a way to opt-out so as not to receive unsolicited newsletter, "special offers" or other stresses.

2. Protection of credit card transactions

Companies should protect credit card transactions from a SSL certificate, VeriSign or some other method of encryption.

3. Trying to protect children

Companies that offer adult or the consent of the relevant material should seek to restrict access by minors. It 'a good idea to keep your private credit card information, so that children can not access these types of sites.

4. Offering an opt-out or unsubscribe option

Privacy Policy Many will tell you that you may receive advertising mail or e-mail, the "special offers" or incentives by submitting your contact information, this is common. However, they must offer an easy to find the opt-out option.

5. Limiting access to customer databases

Many companies will offer reassurance by restricting access to your personal information, allowing only certain workers' rights to your personal information. Big companies can afford to manage their servers, shared servers are not more difficult to gain admission.

6. Revealing how the information is used unidentifiable

Non-identifiable information may include your surfing habits, such as ads that visit, the pages you look at or other anonymous data that is valuable for marketing purposes. This may include how to use, or if they use cookies. 'Interactive Sites often require cookies to run all their features, but you should be able to remove them when you are done.

Keep in mind that the privacy policies do not cover those who may advertise on a particular site. It 's also a good idea to install the software and personal firewall anti-spyware to protect your computer data and personal information.

If you believe that a company is applying the principles outlined in their privacy policy or if you encounter problems with customer service, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and BBBOnline. The BBB is concerned primarily with complaints relating to market operations, including advertising claims. You can also check online to see if a particular company is a member or not. However, this organization is not all-inclusive and protects your personal information is really up to you.

So the next time you want to subscribe to a free subscription or purchase something online, check the privacy policy of the companies we evaluate to see if their clients and to offer some protection of your personal data.

Other resources for ConsumersBetter Business Bureau (BBB) ​​Center for Democracy and TechnologyElectronic Privacy CenterFederal Trade Commission for information ConsumerNational Fraud CenterNetwork Advertising Privacy InitiativeOnline AllianceUS Department of Commerce, Safe Harbor ......