Privacy Policies

Privacy Policies, I think at times, can be categorized as an oxymoron.  I’ve read through three different privacy policies of three different websites of businesses with whom I conduct online business with on a regular basis: My state’s county treasurer’s office, my cell phone provider, and my local bank.

The County Treasure's policy is relatively short; however, it does refer frequently to Chapter 22 of the Code of Iowa: the law on examination of public records. It specifically refers to section 22.11, which is cited as the “Iowa Fair Information Practices Act.”  This section basically explains that some information obtained by government agencies may be deemed public record, and some information is deemed private. For example: property taxes and ownership of land may be deemed public record, while social security numbers are deemed private. Their privacy policy goes on to state that no marketing databases are created, but they are not responsible for any third party websites that may be linked to them.

They do use cookies; however, these cookies are said to be “session variable.” What this means is that they use cookies during the single transaction in which you are involved in. For example, if I am on this site to pay my auto registration, it will store cookies on my browser so it can retain my necessary information needed to complete that transaction. Once I close the browser, these cookies are deleted. (So they say!)

My Cell Phone Provider gave me the most amusement. I say this because every time I physically go into their brick and mortar building, I cannot begin to conduct business with them until they have verified that my name is on the account (this took some doing, a few years back, when it was just my spouse’s name on the account, but is a story for a different time!), I have given them my password, and I have provided them with a photo I.D. Conducting business on their website is a little different, although they state that their privacy policy does apply to all affiliate or third parties with whom they share or collect information.

Their site uses cookies. These cookies are stored on your browser and remain there until you manually delete them. So every time you visit their site, you may see “Welcome John.” They also use a clickstream. This means that every key stroke you enter, while on their site, is recorded. Their claim is that they use this data to gauge the effectiveness of their sites, and use this data to perhaps improve their online operations. Clickstream gives me concern. Even if you were to delete the cookies, they still have record to every keystroke you made; however, all transactions are being conducted on a secure browser, denoted by the https:// at the beginning of the URL.

Their privacy policy also refers to Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI).  This is defined on the federal level. Basically this states that every thing you do on your phone is recorded. Yes, everything. Your phone number, the type of phone you have, your location, where you were when you placed or received a call, the amount of calls you make, how long these calls were, to whom they were made,  texts sent and received, pictures sent a received, need I go on?

I digress to the opening paragraph for my cell phone company. They make me jump through all these hoops to identify myself as a customer while I am in their building, (never mind I am standing there with my phone in hand with their logo written on it) but somewhere out there in cyber land, the text I sent to my spouse is floating around for who knows who to see.

My Local Bank, how I love my bank. They are a local, small-town bank. I love it when I go to their brick and mortar building. They call me by name, and I rarely have to show my identification.

When I conduct business online, I do have to jump through the customary hoops: user name, password, secret question/answer. This is expected and appreciated.  Their privacy policy refers to no outside entity. Their policies are strictly their own. They stress the importance of my privacy and the security of my holdings with their bank. They also stress how much they train their employees, and expect them to fully comply with each of their policies.

They do not use cookies.  Each time I visit their site, I remain anonymous. Well, my name and personal information is. What data is collected is the IP address of the computer that I used to access the site and the time and date.  All my transactions are encrypted, thus securing any information that is being transferred back and forth between their site and my computer. When I am done conducting business, there is no data stored on their site, or on my browser.

In summary, I find that a lot of privacy policies refer to outside agencies or third party entities, that state a bunch of laws and guidelines, in conjunction with their own set of policies. They also state that they hold the rights to change their policies at any given time, at their discretion, and they do not have to give you notice of said changes. It is up to you, the customer, to read these policies, and to re visit them from time to time to check for any changes.

It is also worth noting that there is a human element involved here. Even if a claim is made to keep all your personal information confidential and secure, it cannot keep the dishonest employee of these businesses from taking this information and using it to their benefit, and to your cost.

Copyrights and Trademarks

According to Legal Zoom.com, the definitions of each are as follows:

A Trademark protects names, terms or symbols that are used to identify the products of a certain manufacturer or company. This includes brand names such as "Coca-Cola" and images such as Nike's famous "swoosh." As a trademark owner, you can sue for trademark infringement in federal court and prevent others from importing foreign goods that display your trademark.

A Copyright protects original creative works such as books, movies, songs, paintings, photographs, websites and choreography. As a copyright owner, you can control how your work is reproduced, distributed and presented publicly.

To copyright something, a book, a paper, a website, etc., one only has to declare their work as copyrighted. The most common way to do this is to simply place a copyright symbol (©) on their work. This can be followed by a statement(s) which clarifies, or specifies what is being copyrighted, e.g.: “copyright XYZ Company all rights reserved. No part of this website that is protected by copyright may be used, copied, or reproduced without permission of XYZ Company. ” One may also submit their copyright to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, but it is not necessary.

A Trademark requires more action. One must register file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office at the federal level. This can prove to be a lengthy process. After an application is submitted, it goes under review. Is this mark generic, or already being used, or is it likely to cause confusion with other marks? One’s mark must be an original. For example, Coca Cola has their font and logo they use on all their products. This mark is recognizable by the general public as belonging to only Coca Cola, and no other company. Same with the Nike “swoosh.” These marks are not confused with any other marks. They are original to their respective companies, and permission for their use belongs solely with them. Once a trademark is established and registered, then the trademark symbol (®) is used wherever their logo, company name, etc. is used.

Just because one has declared a copyright, or registered a trademark, this does not prevent someone from using one’s material. It is, however, illegal for them to do so. The owners of said copyrights and/or trademarks are solely responsible for their safety. Larger corporations have designated departments whose sole purpose is to safeguard, and enforce legal action against those who infringe upon their rights. For the “little guy”, it is their responsibility. One can find assistance to enforce legal action against violators by contacting the appropriate legal professional. In cases involving E-Commerce and the web, ICANN.org is a great resource.

Where is E-Commerce Taking Us?

E-Commerce, to me, is the art of conducting business on the World Wide Web. Yes, I said “art.” The ability to draw and entice customers to do business with you, and to do it well, is indeed a work of art. More and more businesses are turning to the web to connect with their customers; likewise, more and more customers are turning to the web to do business. As a business owner, I know there are plenty of other businesses who are competing for consumers’ dollars and loyalty. I know that at any given moment, a customer need only click right on out of my store.

I am not only a business owner but a consumer as well. For the purpose of this paper, I will play the role of the consumer.  As I sit at my desk on a snowy day, I can surf the web and conduct a multitude of tasks. I can visit my bank’s web site and check on my balances. If my funds are low in my checking, I can transfer funds from my savings to my checking. I can check on my credit card balance, look at my statement, and schedule a payment date. I can pay my trash bill, electric bill, mortgage, and phone bill, all from the comfort of my big office chair.

Now that my finances are in order, I can surf the web for a new pair of snow boots, purchase them, and have them delivered to my front door. While I was surfing for those boots, this on-line merchant advertised a matching scarf, so I added that to my order as well.  Perhaps after I made this purchase, I realized that I may have gone a little over my budget and must now look for a way to raise a few more dollars to cover this. I remember I have some great DVD’s that are still considered “new releases.” So, I take some pictures of these and I put them up for auction on e-Bay. The winning bidder pays me via PayPal and those funds go directly into my checking account.

These are a very few examples of what I can do on the web in just a few moments on a snowy day from my comfy office chair – all thanks to e-commerce.  Do I worry about my financial privacy? Sure. However, thousands of transactions take place each and every day without incident. I figure the odds are on my side.

I do, however, worry more about SPAM. I hate spam. This is the junk-mail of e-commerce. My e-mail inbox has gotten more clutter than the US Postal Service has ever left in my mailbox at the end of my driveway. I spend more time checking the “no, I do not wish to be on your e-mailing list” boxes than I do worrying about someone stealing my credit information. I have paid so much attention to this matter, and have been pretty successful, that I haven’t had to change my personal email address in years. Just in case, I have a few back-up e-mail addresses I use, depending on the type of business I am conducting on-line, but this can wait for a different story!

I love shopping and banking on line. It saves me time from going store to store, gas (which these days is very costly), and I have the ability to purchase factory direct, which saves me even more money.  It is not without its flaws, though. Some of the drawbacks of e-commerce, in my opinion, are the diminishing face to face human contact, and the tangibility of the products I am purchasing. Sometimes I need to try on those boots I am shopping for, or feel if that scarf is going to be too itchy. Perhaps I ordered the incorrect size, and now I must repackage, send them back, and pay extra shipping and handling for the exchange.  Pros and cons to everything, I guess.

Something I wonder about in this dawn of e-commerce—what is going to happen to the old “brick and mortar” store fronts? Is e-commerce going to so radically change the way we do business that big box stores will cease to exist? Will these buildings be turned into distribution posts from which my boots and scarf will be pulled from a shelf and shipped from? And what’s to happen to that pesky sales person that would want to show me a matching purse to go with my boots and scarf had I purchased them in person? And how about the nice kid that would take my money at the check-out counter? Will they have a job?  Do they now seek employment as an order puller at the distribution plant? One thing for certain, e-commerce has changed forever how we conduct our everyday tasks. Where it will lead to, I guess we need to buckle our seatbelts and see where this ride takes us.