Learn How to Read a Privacy Policy

One of the essential steps to protecting your privacy is understanding how to read a privacy policy.

Privacy policies should be made available in some form anytime you are asked to provide personal information. Financial institutions, health facilities or other businesses that collect your information can be asked to show you their privacy policy before you give them your information.

If the company does not have privacy policy consider doing business elsewhere. It is a show of respect to customers to tell them how their information will be used.

Online you will find privacy policies posted on websites. The privacy policy is an indication of the steps they will take to protect your identity or to inform you of how they will treat the information you provide. Simply having a privacy policy does not guarantee you any level of protection. To understand what is protected and what is shared you must read the policy.

Each site has its own criteria for a privacy policy. Some give full protection including encryption of passwords and not providing your information to any third party while others tell you that your information will be shared with affiliated companies or businesses they feel you would be interested in hearing from. You must read the policy to be aware of the steps being taken to protect you. Here are some of the items to look for on a privacy policy:

What Information is Collected and Why?

When a business is requesting personal information it is reasonable to ask what information is collected and why it is needed. If they request information that doesn’t seem relevant they should state why they need it.

If there is no explanation for the request try to avoid giving the additional information or ask them why they need it. Asking for your income or the name of your spouse is the kind of information you might question providing without reasonable cause.

How is the Information Collected?

While filing out paper forms is straight forward you need to find out from websites how the information is being collected. Websites sometimes use cookies that they install on the visitor’s computer to track information about what pages they click on, how long they spend there and your IP address.

This information can be tracked without your consent. Usually it is only to facilitate the company’s marketing research or to assist you by using your information from previous visits. You should be able to find out what information is automatically stored by reading the privacy policy.

What Will the Information be Used for?

If the business asks for your personal or financial information you have a right to know what it will be used for.

Is it only to complete the transaction? Will they view a purchase as permission to market to you again or to sell your information to other businesses? This information should be available in the privacy policy as well as information on how to ‘opt-out’ of these uses.

Who Will Have Access to Your Information?

Is the information sold or rented? Do they share your name, email address or purchasing habits with other businesses? These areas should be clearly outlined in the privacy policy. If they do sell or rent the names on their list you may wish to limit the information you provide.

Watch for terms like “affiliates”, “sponsors” or “partners” since you will have no idea who will be receiving the information.

How Secure is Your Information?

What steps are taken to protect your personal information? Any transaction that requires you to submit personal or financial information should have SSL (Secure Socket Layers). SSL will encrypt the information so that it can’t be read by others during transmission.

You can verify the security by looking for the https at the beginning of the URL and an icon with a lock (closed) in the bottom corner of your browser window. While these methods are not completely infallible and can possibly be mimicked on fraudulent sites they are a good indication that security precautions are being taken.

Can You Correct Personal Information?

You should be able to review or correct information that is collected about you. The steps should be outlined in the privacy policy and be both convenient and inexpensive.

Can You ‘Opt-Out’?

Wherever your information may be shared you should have the right to ‘opt-out’. In some cases there will be a box that you can click to opt-in or opt-out when entering your information. Watch out for small boxes that are already checked as the default since you are implying you are accepting the offer even if you don’t personally check the box.

The privacy policy should also give you directions on how to opt-out if the option isn’t given when entering your information.

While this list is not exhaustive it does highlight some of the main features that you should look for in a privacy policy. The other information that should always be listed is a contact name, address and telephone number where you can speak to someone regarding the policy.