AFFIRMATIVE-CONSUMER/INTERNET-INHERENCY 370

PRIVACY POLICIES ON SPECIFIC WEB SITES ARE INADEQUATE

PRIVACY POLICIES AT SPECIFIC WEB SITES FAIL

Business Week, March 20, 2000 SECTION: COVER STORY; ONLINE PRIVACY; Number 3673; Pg. 82 TITLE: It's Time for Rules in Wonderland // acs-VT2001

Don't look for transparency here. Most sites don't limit how they or their partners use consumer information. And Web sites can transfer information to partners without telling their own customers. Many sites also change their practices at will and without warning.

PRIVACY POLICIES ARE WRITTEN IS SUCH A WAY PEOPLE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THEM

Will Rodger, USA TODAY, May 1, 2000, SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 3D, TITLE: Privacy isn't public knowledge Online policies spread confusion with legal jargon // acs-EE2001

But without exception, policies are ponderous, full of jargon or written so as to leave many surfers scratching their heads, says Mark Hochhauser, the psychologist and linguistics expert who analyzed the sites.

Every policy studied is written at a college level or higher, he says. And in a nation in which most people read at the 10th-grade level or below, that means a minority will understand the policies. "If you really don't want people to understand, write it in legalese and have it run on for four or five pages. People will say, 'To hell with it,' " he says.

PRIVACY POLICIES ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND BCAUSE PRIVACY IS A COMPLEX CONCEPT

Will Rodger, USA TODAY, May 1, 2000, SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 3D, TITLE: Privacy isn't public knowledge Online policies spread confusion with legal jargon // acs-EE2001

Privacy policies began showing up on the Web four years ago, but many policies continue to be confusing because privacy is inherently complex.

"If you make it easy to read and simple, it often doesn't say much," says Ed Black, head of the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "If you get into details, it can become complicated."

PRIVACY POLICIES ARE A CONSUMER FRAUD BECAUSE THEY ARE SO CONFUSING

Will Rodger, USA TODAY, May 1, 2000, SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 3D, TITLE: Privacy isn't public knowledge Online policies spread confusion with legal jargon // acs-EE2001

"These privacy policies are a consumer fraud" and violate federal law, says Joel Reidenberg, a professor of law at Fordham University and author of a seminal book on U.S. privacy law. "To provide a notice that most Americans cannot understand and argue that that is sufficient is utter nonsense."