North American Corporate Privacy Comparison

Scooter[AMMO] writes "The Toronto Star has published an article on a study comparing the way companies protect the privacy of their customers, which is surely a topic of interest to most /.'ers. Choice quote: 'The study, the first to compare the corporate privacy practices of comparable Canadian and U.S. firms, found that Canadian businesses see their privacy practices as an opportunity to improve relations with customers, while their U.S. counterparts viewed privacy measures more as a way of complying with legislation and avoiding civil lawsuits.'"

Comments

Re:Privacy and outsourcing

[DrEldarion]

There was actually a Slashdot discussion about that very thing a while ago.

Off-topic (slightly), Karma whoring (obviously)

[The-Bus]

This is from a packet I got on the credit bureaus. You know all those "You're Pre-Approved for a $50 Discover Card!" mailers you get? It apparently can be removed...

To request that your name be removed from pre-approved credit solicitations developed through credit reporting agencies, you can call 1-888-567-8688 or write the agencies below. Include your name, address, and Social Security number.

Experian
Consumer Opt Out
901 West Bond
Lincoln, NE 68521

Equifax Inc.
Options
P.O. Box 740123
Atlanta, GA 30374-0123

Trans Union LLC
Name Removal Option
P.O. Box 97328
Jackson, MS 39288-7328

I just tried to call the number and it was busy. Certainly feel free to verify any information regarding this. (Google cache of State of NJ website listing this and other methods). I only wish that I could end "CAR RT SORT" mail from getting to me. All I do is toss out dozens of circulars per week. A waste of paper and time.

Re:Off-topic (slightly), Karma whoring (obviously)

[wfberg]

junkbusters has an interesting mention of something called a prohibitory order.

If you fill out USPS form 1500 against any non-governmental organization, they MUST stop sending you mail. It was originally meant to stop pornographic junk mail, but since one man's porn is another man's art, it's now up to you to determine whether you find), let's say, mortgage offers arousing and/or patently offensive.

Doing the right thing

[pubjames]

I'm afraid that my experience of American companies means that I don't trust them any more. Sorry, but that's the case. Three times now I've been involved in deals with American companies where the American company has betrayed one of their European partners, just to make a fast buck, including one case which financially ruined one of my clients.

You should do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do, not because it's the law or so you don't lose customers.

Bad Science

[cdrguru]

I know of no respected study that links Aluminum with Alzheimers or any other neurological problems. I know of lots of web pages filled with scary stories about how cooking with Aluminum pans made their aunt, uncle, father, brother or whatever have problems.

No science plus lots of anecdotal evidence leads people to very, very wrong conclusions. And, in places where the "Greens" have more political clout you get laws passed that codify bad science into rules that people think are grounded in something. In nearly all cases this is made-up nonsense from purely anecdotal hearsay.

The forces of Privacy are surrounding the US

[BritGeek]

Of course, one of the interesting things about Privacy (and the lack of data privacy rights for US citizens and residents), is that this whole debate is slowly becoming irrelevant.

I work for a large multi-national financial services company, and we have long been aware how much more stringent the laws are in other jurisdictions. (This is not exactly news.) However, the interesting thing is that there has been a clear trend over the last few years towards increasingly stringent regulations in other countries too. So, the net effect is that the US is slowly being surrounded by laws that are more privacy friendly than those in the US. (Hard to be *less* privacy friendly than the US, generally speaking.)

As companies like mine get more and more forced to adopt practices that conform to the most restrictive of these various bits of legislation, we are tending more and more to say "To Hell with what you can do in the US, we'll just go with something much more like Germany's". Of course, this tendency is only exerting leverage on multi-nationals, but that is a significant chunk of the companies that we all do business with, so who knows?...