-
Contributors
Leela StakeLeela is a director who helps businesses innovate, collaborate and communicate to be more successful. She’s based in San Francisco, has worked in six Asian countries and is interested in the relationship between long-term business success and community prosperity.
Laura PalantoneLaura is a member of our corporate communications team and is based in New York.
James RobinsonJames is a director who brings ten years of experience working on CR strategy and communications in New York, Beijing, and Jakarta. He looks at how CR is employed as part of broader business strategy and has a particular interest in the evolving role of technology and innovation in managing social and environmental issues.
Julie JackA director in APCO's New York office, Julie works on corporate responsibility with a focus on business strategy and emerging issues and trends. Her currents interests and work focus on sustainable agriculture and supply chain management, the integration of CR and financial communications, and CR in the consumer goods space.
Ellen MignoniEllen is a senior director and helped build APCO’s global corporate responsibility practice. She works primarily with APCO’s corporate clients on business alignment and corporate responsibility, stakeholder engagement and partnership development, and communication and outreach.
Getting Transparent About Privacy
Yesterday President Obama unveiled his Administration’s white paper on online privacy. Among other things, the much-anticipated document – Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World – calls on Congress to adopt a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and charges industry to do more self-policing but under the watchful enforcement of federal regulators.
While the white paper has been in the works for months, yesterday’s event tops off a number of recent events that have served as a somewhat predictable trigger and a flashpoint for a broader public dialogue around the protection of online consumer privacy.
As awareness grows about how companies are collecting, using, maintaining and disclosing consumer information, so grows the public expectation that those companies will be honest and transparent about their information practices. Clearly articulating and demonstrating privacy practices is becoming every bit as important to a company’s brand and reputation as their actual products and services.
And as the decibel level of the public debate rises, lip service won’t cut it. Companies have to walk the real walk of privacy protection. Responsibility in this area must be a priority that is championed from an organization’s leadership and embedded as a cultural norm. To be effective, there must be checks and balances and importantly, companies must invest before an issue arises.
To be sure, the pressure for industry to be more transparent about privacy protections will only intensify in the weeks and months to come. At the same time, communications about these practices should be clear, concise, easily understood, and in a word, true. Consumers must trust that a company is sincere and accountable. Without that commitment, companies risk attracting their own regulatory investigations and – most critically – they risk sacrificing the trust and confidence of consumers, employees, customers and shareholders.
Catogories Business Alignment/Integration, Technology and CR and tagged consumer data, Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, online privacy, privacy protection, white paper
. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.