Better Business Bureau to regulate online privacy

By BETH LUCAS
Collegian Staff Writer

Consumer concern about online privacy has resulted in the Better Business Bureau's attempt to regulate World Wide Web site policies.

The bureau created a new program -- Better Business Bureau Online (www.bbbonline.com) -- that will begin this month and actively regulate members' privacy programs. It aims to regulate Internet privacy and make consumers more comfortable shopping on the Internet, said Megan Lamb, bureau spokesperson.

The Federal Trade Commission considers distribution of information without consent a problem and is working to rid the Internet of improper distribution of private information, said Michelle Muth, press spokesperson for the FTC.

Although the FTC is unsure at this time whether it will introduce legislation concerning adult Internet privacy, it finds the bureau and other similar services to be a promising resolution to the problem, said Dana Rosenfeld, assistant director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at FTC.

Private information could include names, addresses and any information given to the site.

One concern is information could be sold to telemarketing businesses.

Last year the agency charged GeoCities.com, which is one of the most popular sites on the Internet, with misrepresenting purposes for using private information. In August, the case was settled out of court and GeoCities must now prominently display its privacy policy and a link to a service that regulates how the site has been upholding those stated policies.

"This case is a message to all Internet marketers that statements about their information-collection practices must be accurate and complete," Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release.

"Our goal is to help consumers recognize businesses that are living up to what they say they will do with information," Lamb said. "That way, consumers will know that if a business is collecting information for research, it won't sell the information."

The bureau will visit member companies to observe privacy practices, she said. Businesses will receive an online seal from the bureau, which must be renewed annually. Consumers can click on a BBB Online privacy seal on a Web site and be taken to the bureau's site to view the company's listing with the bureau.

This kind of service is important because Internet business is growing at a speed faster than any past industry, according to the bureau's Web site (www.bbb.com).

But John Flohr, president of Consultation and Development Group Inc., 116 Cedar Lane, attributes the concern to "urban legends."

"Electronic commerce seems to be very well secured if it's done properly," he said. The selling of information is not different between online and offline businesses, he added.