Privacy Certified
By Bret A. Fausett
A national bank sent me a copy of its privacy policy recently. It's the same privacy policy the bank uses for its Web site, and I was grateful to have a paper copy. Drilling down two, three, or sometimes four pages into a Web site to find a Web operator's privacy policy isn't always easy. This particular policy began promisingly enough:
At Our Bank, respecting the privacy and security of your personal information is important to us.
That's terrific, I thought. My privacy and the security of my personal information are important to me, too, especially when I'm selecting a bank. I've been considering online banking, so this is exactly what I want to hear.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully.
This is good advice, especially because the personal data I share with my bank is exactly the kind of information I want to keep private. Thanks for reminding me to read it all the way through.
This Privacy Policy is designed to inform you of the types of information we collect, how we use that information, and the circumstances under which we will share it among our family of affiliated companies and with nonaffiliated third parties.
Hmmm, this changes the picture a little bit. Just two lines ago, the bank was telling me how important it was to respect my privacy and secure my personal information, and now I learn that the bank collects information, uses that information, and under certain circumstances shares it with third parties. Good thing I decided to read the entire policy carefully. What else is in store?
We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
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From you, on forms, via the Internet, by telephone, or otherwise.
