PRIVACY STATEMENTS
Why do companies and individuals feel compelled to lie!
I am one, like many, that values their privacy. I have no issue with posting stuff on social media about my life, my escapades and pictures of parties and adventures — that’s not the issue!
The issue is the lie that I find myself perpetually told when I opt into websites, opt in pages and so on!
Now I may be a little paranoid, I mean I shred every single private information that I trash rather than putting it into the waste bin and that includes my name and address and company name on envelopes — that is a level of privacy I chose to engage in my personal and business life — there have been incidences of identity fraud experienced by people who have not shredded their details.
But what is getting my goat at the moment is the blatent lies so many people and companies are selling on their webpages and opt in pages — I am sure you have seen it many times —
And worse still when you go to check their privacy policy this is what you get —
And this is from a MAJOR and well known corporation in the UK
Even if it is not an ‘opt in’ per se, but you are enquiring about a service and request more information — despite what the company or individual may have on their privacy statement that they never share information outside of their corporate group as per the Companies Act of the country etc — without the express permission of yourself — they ARE sharing the information.
This has happened to me TWICE this week!
I completed details on a well known company website requesting more info and next thing my inbox was inundated with e-mails flogging me the shit from other companies. I am not talking just e-mail address here — I am talking, address, phone number — the lot!!
Since when did it become OK to blatently lie like this? Is it is because online activities are still a little ‘wild west-ish’?
Besides the identity issue and the potential fraud issues — there is a matter of time, receiving all these phone calls and e-mails is frustrating, annoying and time wasting!
Yet, to my surprise it appears to be generally accepted — there is no uproar — but goodness me — should Facebook do anything that we perceive may be an invasion of privacy — there is uproar!!
Well give me Facebook issues any day.. they say what they are going to do and do it — unlike others who are saying one thing and doing another!
I put it to you — if you are doing business online, have an online presence in any way whatsoever — it is as important to be authentic, and integral online as it is off line!
Those that don’t shape up and adopt this same on and offline attitude, are going to be left in the dust!
The internet and iterations of it in the future is our life and online security is going to become more and more important to every single one of us!
A fantastic resource to read on this is the book called — The New Digital Age by Google’s Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen — and they should know!
A quote from the book (page 260)
“It’s pretty clear that the internet is so much more that a technical tool. We’ve all heard the statistics: on hundred hours of You Tube footage uploaded every minute, six billion hours of video watched every month, twenty three billion text messages sent every day, more owners of cell phones than owners of toothbrushes, and more cell phones in India than latrines. Yet as appealing s it is to focus on the data as the key marker of the digital transformation, the data actually undersell the power of the internet and offer little insight into how much the digital transformation really matters. For so many people connectivity represents freedom, opportunity and human dignity. And the stories we have heard and read about and witnessed confirm that the rise of digital technology matters in these places in ways we could never begin to imagine.”
So let’s make a concerted effort to be as authentic on line as we are or strive to be off line!
Love and Gratitude
Judy
