AUDIO: Businesses need to step up privacy protections

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.
January 7, 2008 8:59am

As more Americans become concerned with protecting their privacy, businesses must step up their efforts, says Jacqueline Klosek, an attorney and author of the new book, “The War on Privacy.”

“As a first step companies should really understand the kind of information they collect,” Ms. Klosek says.

This includes “understanding what information you’re collecting, where you’re collecting it from, [and] what promises are made in connection with that data collection,” she says.

Ms. Klosek says consumers are becoming savvier about their privacy rights and businesses need to keep up with consumer demands and changing laws.

She says private industry faces a precarious balance, trying to simultaneously maintain consumer privacy while also complying with governmental demands for information.

(Ms. Klosek amplifies on her views in our CVBT Audio Interview. Please click on the link below to listen or to download the MP3 audio file.)

“This issue is not going to just disappear,” says Ms. Klosek. “The war on terror has reduced privacy rights in the United States and around the world. The bottom line is whether the feds are leaning on your company for records or you’ve suffered a security breach by hackers, your reputation is at stake and you’ve lost your customers’ trust.”