Threadbare as it already is, the privacy rubber may not even be meeting the road. A recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute implies a disconnect between the perception of privacy officers – charged with formulating company policy – and marketing departments – entrusted with actual custody of customer data – with respect to how consumer information may be used.
As Andy Greenberg reports on Forbes.com: “More specifically, 80% of marketers said their organizations share e-mail addresses with third parties, compared with 47% of security and privacy officers. Other examples: 65% of marketers said they would distribute a customer’s cell phone number, while only 47% of privacy execs said their companies allowed the data to be shared.”
If this disconnect reflects the reality (only 5% of those surveyed apparently responded to the questionnaire; accordingly, there is plenty of margin for error), then we clearly have cause for concern. Privacy officers are generally not in a position to share your information or give out your cell phone number. Marketers are.