More often than not companies are realizing that they have a consumer provide her information after she has previously opted-out of marketing. For example, a company collects contact information online, sends a consumer email marketing its services, and she opts-out of further email marketing by following the “opt-out” procedures in that email. Six months later the same consumer participates in a survey sponsored by the same company, the terms of which state that by participating in the survey the consumer consents to receive further marketing communications from the company. Is the company bound by the prior opt-out by the consumer, or does her participation in the survey under the rules permitting marketing override the original opt-out?
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Privacy Policy
Billing Company Settles FTC Charges That It Misled Consumers Regarding Health Data Collection
By Lauren Winchester on
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it settled charges against a health billing company and its former CEO that they misled consumers who had signed up for their online…
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FTC “History Sniffing” Settlement Meaningless or the Start of Something Bigger
By Mark G. McCreary on
The FTCannounced yesterday a settlement with Epic Marketplace, an online advertising network, which prohibits Epic from further collection of data obtained by “browser sniffing” the surfing history of Internet users and requires Epic to destroy all previously collected data. The FTC did NOT ban “browser sniffing.”…
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Emerging Employee/Employer Tensions in the Facebook Era
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With the ever-growing popularity of social networking sites, and with so many employees exercising poor judgment online, it’s easy to understand why employers are concerned about the messages and …
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Don’t Want to Read About the Latest Facebook Privacy Problem? Then Listen to It
By Mark G. McCreary on
We just wrote about the recent privacy SNAFU by Facebook and other mega-social media site that was reported on by the Wall Street Journal. If you want to hear some really smart people, plus me, talk about the issue, you should check out this brief podcast.
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Facebook Again In the Spotlight for Privacy Blunders
By Mark G. McCreary on
The Wall Street Journal wrote a series of articles on Monday about Facebook and other meda-social media sites passing User Identifications (UIDs) to its advertisers. The article has generated a huge amount of attention, begging the question whether the Wall Street Journal is exposing a significant privacy problem, or making something of nothing in the pursuit of web page impressions.
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Employee Privacy and the Attorney-Client Privilege
By Fox Rothschild LLP on
This week, the Supreme Court of New Jersey unanimously ruled on a novel issue of privacy law, holding that an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy in e-mail communications…
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Death of University Student Call Into Questions Privacy Issues
By Mark G. McCreary on
An early March death of a University of Kansas student has many colleges and universities rethinking privacy policies regarding their students.
Recent news reports indicate that Jason Wren, a 19 year-old student from Colorado was ejected from university housing after repeated infractions involving alcohol. Reportedly, the university’s policy regarding its students’ privacy prohibited the disclosure of the basis for his removal from university housing to Mr. Wren’s parents.
On March 8, 2009, Jason Wren was found dead in his bed at a fraternity house in Lawrence, Kansas. The Kansas City Star reported that Jay Wren, the father of the deceased student, indicated that the university would not disclose to him the basis for his son’s removal from university housing. The Star further reported that Mr. Wren said he would have pulled his son out of school if he knew of an alcohol problem.
Kansas University has reported that it is examining the privacy issues (and policies) currently in place. Apparently the university will be examining whether any changes can or should be made to the policy, in light of these recent events.Continue Reading Death of University Student Call Into Questions Privacy Issues