Just when you thought you d mastered most of the Web s acronyms like HTML, VRML, B2B, B2C and scores of others, along comes a new slew of online privacy terms like P3P, PII, W3C and many more. As Rich LeFurgy, IAB chairman and general partner, Walden VC, explained, At the center of all business models is consumers. There are three big lies in Washington in the Internet Space, Kamp revealed. And the first biggest lie is, The Net is the wild, wild west and doesn t have to be regulated . He reminded the audience that 100 Web sites have already been busted and about a half dozen of those were busted because their privacy statements did not match their actions.
Privacy is hard to prosecute, fraud is easy.
If you say your privacy policy is x and you do y that s considered fraud . Engage s Director of Privacy Compliance J. Trevor Hughes says Engage looks at privacy as brand. If you don t watch, your brand can be damaged by bad or no privacy policies or your brand can be polished by good policies. One of the steps many Web sites are taking is to enroll in seal programs , which are third-party assurances that the Web site is following an organized privacy policy. But they do know that they re entering into a political season and privacy is like motherhood and apple pie .