The Internet has upped the ante. The flow of data over the Web has made collecting customer information easier and cheaper, and businesses are getting more aggressive about gathering data as market competition gets stiffer and profit margins shrink. Companies analyze clickstreams to measure every move a customer makes, matching that information with sales data and demographics and ultimately pooling terabytes of information into massive data warehouses. Then they use this information to target marketing programs, content, and sales pitches. Such activities have turned online privacy into an explosive issue, one that many companies may be underestimating.
Data flows through a company like water flows through pipes.
I don't think businesses have really thought about how they manage this data, how it flows throughout the company. But most companies don't have a policy at all, and they're free to do as they see fit with personal data. Our ability to protect the public is not sufficient to deal with the scope of the problem. Other areas of the world that are more strict about the use of customer data are well aware of those limitations. The European Union's 1998 Data Protection Directive requires that European consumers be allowed to access and correct their data and specifically agree to sharing it with others.