Privacy Policy (Offline)
It's no secret that technology has rapidly outpaced the privacy laws governing it in the past couple of decades.
Privacy policies, on the other hand, are often better spelled out on websites. Sure, they're often way too long for a person to read through, and they often contain unintelligible gobs of legalese, but at least they are available to anyone who cares to read them.
I popped a question yesterday online about those "contest jars" that take business cards by cash registers...if you're tossing away someone else's business card, why not enter them into a contest for a free lunch?
An astute friend pointed out that companies often sponsor these so they can collect people's data for spamming purposes.
I believe him, but the thought didn't occur to me, because this wasn't posted anywhere. There is no "terms of use" for this jar. I'll concede that people are opting in because they're giving up their business card, but they're doing so without the whole story. And an opt-in based on incomplete information isn't consensual, so it's still spam.
I often attend functions for charity that require me to sign in. Along with my name, they also ask for my email address. In these situations, I'm generally more shrewd and ask the person attending the event what my email will be used for. Usually they shrug; "I just work here", in other words.
If there's no good reason for them to have my email, I don't offer it.
It's much harder to spell out in plain text how you're going to use someone's information if you're capturing it offline in the real world. And it's generally impossible to obfuscate your real intentions by burying it in heaps of text. (Offline, people will get suspicious and just leave.) But that doesn't give you the right to offer no information and then use it without consent. Offline privacy law seems to have its hiccups, too.
Privacy policies, on the other hand, are often better spelled out on websites. Sure, they're often way too long for a person to read through, and they often contain unintelligible gobs of legalese, but at least they are available to anyone who cares to read them.
I popped a question yesterday online about those "contest jars" that take business cards by cash registers...if you're tossing away someone else's business card, why not enter them into a contest for a free lunch?
An astute friend pointed out that companies often sponsor these so they can collect people's data for spamming purposes.
I believe him, but the thought didn't occur to me, because this wasn't posted anywhere. There is no "terms of use" for this jar. I'll concede that people are opting in because they're giving up their business card, but they're doing so without the whole story. And an opt-in based on incomplete information isn't consensual, so it's still spam.
I often attend functions for charity that require me to sign in. Along with my name, they also ask for my email address. In these situations, I'm generally more shrewd and ask the person attending the event what my email will be used for. Usually they shrug; "I just work here", in other words.
If there's no good reason for them to have my email, I don't offer it.
It's much harder to spell out in plain text how you're going to use someone's information if you're capturing it offline in the real world. And it's generally impossible to obfuscate your real intentions by burying it in heaps of text. (Offline, people will get suspicious and just leave.) But that doesn't give you the right to offer no information and then use it without consent. Offline privacy law seems to have its hiccups, too.