Comments on: Do as you say, not as you do

Attorney Eric J. Sinrod says the statistics belie the general impression that people are taking privacy precautions when they go online.

[skeptik]

good impossible advice.

"On top of that, only 5 percent frequently check back to find out if privacy policies have been changed."

Only a moron would consider this a reasonable expectation. How long would it take to routinely check every place I have a login to see if there are changes to the policies? How many even fully understand the legalese these policies are written in?

How about a no exceptions law that makes it illegal for anyone to use any personal information for any reason at all unless explicitly granted permission by the individual described by the information. And real penalties for organizations that violate the law. Simple.

[Hoser McMoose]

Does anyone actually trust privacy policies?

A lot of these recommendations seem to be based on the assumption that privacy policies are worth the electrons they're stored in! Honestly does anyone actually believe that privacy policies are followed? I sure as hell don't! I've signed up (with disposable e-mail addresses) for several accounts that quite clearly state in their privacy policy that they don't sell user information, but two weeks later and that e-mail address is filled with spam.

Ok, maybe government organizations and banks might be trustworthy. Others organizations might *THINK* they that won't violate their own privacy policies, but do so anyway due to their own incompetence (case in point: AOL releasing users search data). Others still don't release info intentionally only to have their information stolen when their website gets hacked.

Honestly, reading privacy policies is mostly a waste of time. The real trick is to *NEVER* provide real information to ANYONE on the internet. Unless you absolutely know that some organization has a real and valid requirement to ask your real name, address, date of birth, etc. then I would highly recommend lying when asked.

[Hoser McMoose]

Reason for their recommendations

Ahh, never mind, I just checked out TRUSTe's website and all of a sudden it's obvious WHY their are making such pointless recommendations: they sell privacy policies. What an utterly pointless business, they might as well sell "Honest Person" badges for people to wear around town.