Is Your Private Data Safe?

TRUSTe, an online solutions company, said many UK websites use different tracking tools to gather and store their users’ private data.

A research conducted by TRUSTe showed that users give away as many as 140 cookies. These cookies, in turn, remember information like prior visits to a website. In addition, close to 70 percent of these data go to a third party.

The research studied the 50 most visited sites in the United Kingdom. Results revealed that majority of these sites do not have a facility where it asks for users’ consent, allowing the sites to access their data.

The very few websites that provide terms of use wrote lengthy guidelines. Some guidelines were close to 3,000 words. The length definitely discourages readers from ever reading them. Only a handful of websites also provide summarized version of the guidelines.

TRUSTe chief executive Chris Babel said website owners need to be more transparent when getting users’ private data. He added that privacy notices should be written in shorter and user-friendly style. This should help educate users about protecting their personal information.

Just a few weeks ago, the European Union announced new measures to protect online privacy.

UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office will also impose Cookie Directive starting May 26. It requires sites to properly disclose to users how it uses trackers and cookies. Guidelines must be comprehensive and clear so that site visitors can make informed decisions.

While this is a welcome move for online users, a recent survey showed that majority of the 700 marketers surveyed believed that the cookie law will not help much in terms of protecting online privacy.

Tagged Chris Babel, European Union, TRUSTe