Privacy and confidentiality are similar but different. Confidentiality is a security objective that refers to the protection of sensitive information from disclosure. For example, a company's expansion business plans for the next year need to remain confidential, but these plans don't concern privacy because they don't contain personal information. Security services help enforce confidentiality with identification and authentication, access controls, encryption, monitoring and logging. Personal information can be both confidential and private.
Privacy relates to the business use of personal information for secondary uses.
In other words, using consumer information collected for one purpose in ways unknown or unapproved of by the consumer. A company's privacy practices are based on and guided by several basic principles, which can be addressed through compliance with five fair information practices. This is alerting consumers that personal information is being collected and telling them the uses of the information. This practice should address who has access to personal information and how that information is being used. A continuous consumer awareness process effectively optimizes openness and increases participation in providing personally identifiable information.