Americans should demonstrate independence by “opting” for best privacy policy
Americans should demonstrate independence by “opting” for best privacy policy
J. Bradley Jansen
July 5, 2001
By now, financial institutions have deluged us with billions of privacy notices giving us the ability to “opt out” of the selling and sharing of information. Many commentators have decried the fact that most of us have not acted on this option. Surveys show that only about one in twenty of us have taken the time to contact our financial institution and “opt out.” Is privacy really so unimportant?
A better way of looking at this debate is to consider the consumer-friendly developments that have taken place. Rather than a simplistic approach of having all financial institutions offer the same bland privacy policy, consumers can choose which company’s policies best reflect their tastes. Companies should compete to get and retain customers on the basis of their privacy policies. What the market demands is an information broker to facilitate the comparison of policies.
Happily, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse project to help consumers is a stellar example. Their two web sites (www.privacyrights.org
[The financial privacy policies mandated by Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act will require financial institutions to give their customers the choice to "opt out" of the selling or sharing of their person information in most cases. The Act was a very comprehensive and complicated one that acknowledges both the great changes that have occurred in the marketplace and the development of new technologies and new financial products. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act also forces a great deal of change on the industry. The treatment of privacy considerations in this context means that it is likely to be process, not an event.]
It behooves financial institutions to send their privacy policy statements in for comparison and let consumers choose more easily the policies they want. Companies should not belittle the privacy concerns of their customers and prospective customers. If companies believe that their use of customers’ information is the best approach, let them put their privacy policies where their advertising campaigns are and stand up to public scrutiny.
In this context of a process of great change, we urge those hesitant to address the privacy implications that more needs to be done. We also urge those who demand immediate results to consider the whole context of great change and work together to help guide this process along in the most responsible manner forward.