The new executives do everything from lobbying lawmakers to reassuring customers that their personal information is safe. Atlanta-based Earthlink Inc. is the latest to join the trend, appointing its former legal director and former customer service manager as its first chief privacy officer. As at other companies, Earthlink sees the appointment of Vice President Les Seagraves as good business and good public relations. If customers and would-be customers believe Earthlink will protect their personal information, they're more likely to sign up with the Internet company. As Congress prepares to consider new online privacy policies, Earthlink also wants to show it's willing to be proactive.
Online companies have good reason to get serious about privacy policies.
In survey after survey, online consumers say they don't do more business on the Internet because they fear losing credit card numbers or personal information about their children or spending habits. Meanwhile, mounting lawsuits have convinced many businesses that they need to address the issue. Two of the biggest cases involved the selling of consumer information by Internet advertiser DoubleClick Inc. and separately, US Bancorp. Along with the lawsuits and pending Internet regulations, new rules on customer information disclosure in the health care and financial industries have prompted many companies to add privacy officers. Just last month, Westin's group, which does training for corporate privacy officers, and about 40 recent trainees held an organizational meeting for a new trade group, the Association of Corporate Privacy Officers.