Privacy considerations in marketing practices

Privacy With Markting

According to McDonald's Internet privacy policy, the company limits the information it collects from children 12 and under. It may collect email addresses of the child or the child's parent to fulfill online requests, but will delete them as soon as the request is processed. McDonalds's states that it will not collect more detailed information from a child 12 or younger without the consent of a parent or a guardian. Further, the company promises not to condition a child's participation in any online activity on the child's disclosure of more personal information than is reasonably necessary for the child to participate in that activity. When it does collect personal information, McDonald's states that the information is used solely by McDonald's or other entities that provide technical, fulfillment, or other services to the company; the personal information. Examples provided include entities that provide services such as improving the company's web sites, fulfilling requests or administering sweepstakes. This information may not be sold or transferred to other third parties. McDonald's does not display a web privacy seal from a company such as TRUSTe which is used to help consumers determine which sites comply with privacy best practices. So, even if a company such as McDonald's makes claims that it is protecting a consumer's privacy, what's to guarantee that a site is actually complying with what it says it does? Not much.

To date, businesses have fought hard for self-regulation and most are avoiding scrutiny from online privacy seal programs. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has found that only about eight percent of sites in its random sample displayed a privacy seal (Up for sale: Privacy on the Net). Online businesses claim legitimate reasons for collecting data (Up for sale: Privacy on the Net). Personalization allows them to target their audience with relevant information and many consumers get free access to services such as browsers and access to email in exchange for online companies tracking users.

Yet, consumers feel that the online businesses have gone too far in their data profiling practices (Up for sale: Privacy on the Net).

More and more, these companies use cookies and Web bugs to secretly track down information about customers. Internet businesses track Web users across multiple Web sites to build detailed individual profiles about personally sensitive information such as spending habits, income, illnesses and occupation. Often this data is sold to retailers or to private data collection agencies without the customer's knowledge or permission.