Comparison of Three Published Corporate Privacy Statements - Essay Example

A Privacy Statement is a web document found on the website of a company or a firm that gives details of the type of personally identifiable information that the company or the firm collects about those who visit its site (Turnbull 158). In addition, the statement also explains how the information collected is going to be used, who it is going to be shared with, and how the users themselves can control the information gathered from them. Although all companies have privacy statements, the privacy statements vary from one company to another and entail different issues (Turnbull 155). This paper, therefore, compares and contrasts published corporate privacy statements of three companies, that is, General Motors Company, Panasonic Electric Works Corporation of America (PEWA), and Emetrix Company.

All these companies operate corporate websites and it is on these websites that their privacy statements are found (Turnbull 155). The privacy statements of these three companies have some similarities and differences. The statements have quite several similarities. Firstly, all the privacy statements of these companies are readily available and easily accessible. For all these companies the privacy statements are accessible at the early stages of the online user’s navigation, at a prominent place on the home page of the organization web site.

Secondly, all these companies in their privacy statements appreciate the need for privacy by their online users. They recognize that privacy is important and vow to protect the personal information of their online users in different ways. In addition, in their appreciation for privacy, they all explain how the information collected from their online users is going to be collected and used for the benefit of both the organization and the user. Thirdly, in their privacy statements, all these companies accept that they make use of cookies but give the user the freedom to accept or reject the use of cookies in their browsers. The cookies are used to identify customers.

The other similarity is that all these companies in their privacy statements retain the right to make changes in the statements any time they deem necessary. Lastly, apart from protecting the privacy of the users, the privacy statements of all these companies also give the rights of the users, the terms and conditions that govern the use of these websites, and the kind of information that should be posted on the websites.

The privacy statements of these three companies are similar in their structure but different in the way they are carried out. Although all these companies explain how they collect, use, and protect the information from their online users, they perform these duties in different ways and this becomes the main source of their difference. Whereas General Motors company gives a detailed explanation of how they collect information from their users, both PEWA and Emetrix fail to do that. General Motors Company collects information about its users from their websites, business reply cards, surveys, sweepstakes entries, test-drive incentive applications, vehicle sales records, and other public sources (General Motors Company, P3). PEWA’s privacy statement only states the information to be collected but fails to state how it is going to be collected (PEWA, P3). , Emetrix’s privacy statement only explains where it is going to collect its information but fails to say how and what kind of information is going to be collected (Emetrix Company, P2).

Another difference in the privacy statements of these companies is in the use of information collected and stored. Although all these companies agree that the personal information of a user is confidential and should not be shared with a third party without the consent of the user, Emetrix Company (p3) accepts that when required by the court to do so they would not consent the user. However, the other two companies do not speak of this in their statements.

Lastly, another difference is that whereas Emetrix explains how they treat information collected from children and how they protect their privacy, the other two companies do not say anything about children (Emetrix Company, p4).

Conclusion
Although these companies deal with different products and services, their privacy statements should not vary too much. Privacy is important to both adults and children thus all companies should take this into account when designing their privacy statements to attract many users. The statements should also give details of enough details on how information is collected, used, and protected to win the confidence and trust of the users. Read More