Category Archives: Best Practices

Upworthy’s (Graphic) Privacy Policy

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Jim Brock

I’m pretty impressed with how social-content distributor Upworthy explains their data practices in an approachable and entertaining way with this infographic. Privacy policies with short, iconic summaries can get the job done, but they are not (yet) engaging like this. With … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Folks, Privacy Policies | 2 Comments

Privacy and the Fourth Wave of Ad Tech

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Jim Brock

I follow news and commentary from the ad technology business because it provides a window into emerging data practices affecting consumer privacy. Consider this article by Eric Picard, in which he writes about the coming Fourth Wave of ad technology: … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Do Not Track, Pros | Leave a comment

A Win-Win-Win: Privacyscores take hold

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Jim Brock

Since we launched Privacyscore.com earlier this year, we have had the chance to interact with scores of web and app publishers about one simple question: How can they improve their own Privacyscores? Through these conversations, we’ve seen many companies modify … Continue reading →

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FTC: It’s not just about your privacy policy

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Jim Brock

Google just agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine to resolve an FTC action over Google’s circumvention of the Safari browser’s privacy settings. While the substance of the complaint is particularly important for ad networks, there’s a critical reminder for … Continue reading →

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“What part of ‘Remove App’ do you not understand?” Facebook versus LinkedIn on app retention of user data

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Jim Brock

The two largest social networks, Facebook and LinkedIn, both have platforms that let users give third-party apps permission to use their data. Both also provide users with a process to revoke that permission, but with one crucial difference:  LinkedIn requires … Continue reading →

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Developer Alert: Your app-privacy roadmap is here

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jim Brock

The Future of Privacy Forum and Center for Democracy and Technology have released a comprehensive and extremely useful set of guidelines for mobile app privacy. It’s the best starting point for developers who want to do it right on privacy. … Continue reading →

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It’s an Honor (in two ways)

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Jim Brock

The Online Trust Alliance today announced their 2012 Honor Roll, a unique and important tradition that highlights the online services that have adopted best practices in online security and privacy. At PrivacyChoice we’re celebrating this year’s announcement for two reasons. First, … Continue reading →

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13 Takeaways from the Federal Trade Commission’s final privacy report

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jim Brock

After two years of study, the Federal Trade Commission has issued their final report, Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change. Here are the takeaways that I found most significant (particularly #13!): Companies can establish a “safe harbor” … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Do Not Track, Legislation, mobile, Privacy Policies, privacyscore, Pros, Self-Regulation, Website Disclosure | 1 Comment

How does Facebook define “sensitive” boundaries for ad targeting?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Jim Brock

This blog is full of posts about the boundaries of ad targeting — what kind of use profile data is and should be considered “off limits” for online marketing. Across major ad companies and industry organizations you’ll find important differences … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Facebook, Folks, Google, NAI, Pros, Self-Regulation | 1 Comment

Developer Alert: App stores now must enforce privacy-policy requirements

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Jim Brock

As noted in prior posts, we have been hoping that mobile app store operators, like Apple and Google, will start to encourage developers to pay attention to app privacy policies, and in the course of doing so, get smarter about … Continue reading →

Posted in App Stores and Markets, Best Practices, Privacy Policies, Pros | Leave a comment