Privacy in eRetailing

Amazon.com recently re-released its privacy policy in order to clarify its use of personal information with third party services, among other things.

Toys "R" Us also made changes in its privacy code recently following a lawsuit which alleged infringements as a result of the company's use of a third party marketing provider to analyze its customer data. (story).

How should an eRetailer define its privacy policy? eRetailers need to have the freedom to sub-contract some specialized services, such as email customization & delivery, without seeming to be giving away personal information to third parties. Yet privacy is one aspect of customer service that everybody should be very concerned about.

What does Amazon.com's new privacy policy say? Click here for our synopsis.

In fact, Amazon.com is basically stating that they don't share customer information except under very special and specific circumstances. 

Internet retailers are faced with a dilemma. They want to protect their customer's personal information, yet they need to be able to share this information in order to operate efficiently on the Web. It is a fine line between satisfying consumer's expectations of privacy and leaving the business exposed to potential lawsuits exploiting loopholes in loosely worded privacy policies.

To help members gain a better understanding of privacy policy,  the eRetail Association has drafted a set of privacy guidelines. The first draft is available for review here. Your feedback and suggested changes will help us to define a general set of privacy principles that can form the basis of any eRetail privacy policy.

Privacy Guidelines, click here