An interesting Day for Digital Privacy.

Professor Daniel Solove, a leading thinking on the importance of consumer privacy, and author of 'I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy,' has a new book out called Understanding Privacy. Chapter 1 is available for free download. It’s worth checking out.

Undertone Networks announced this week that it has joined the Network Advertising Initiative, a self-regulatory privacy association. The interesting thing here is that customer inquiries drove the decision, demonstrating that advertisers care about the privacy policies and practices of the companies they spend with.

BI-ME just reported that some 15 privacy and public interest groups have come together to urge the US Congress to push forward proposals to limit the growing practice of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) targeting ads to subscribers based on their personal web activities.

So what are the guidelines?

The AIB and Online Privacy Alliance have both done a good job of highlighting the important aspects of a sound Internet Privacy Policy.

A basic rule of thumb is that targeting users anonymously based on your database of specified user attributes is ok. The jury is still out on gathering unspecified usage and activity data tied to User IP address. Disclosing how you capture and use data and allowing users to easily opt out are both important. Always keep in mind how costly a negative privacy public relations event can be. Your relationship with your user is likely your most important asset. A comprehensive Privacy Policy can protect your company as much as it does your users.

Here’s a very interesting report that shows how a clearly stated privacy policy and open operational practices can go a long way toward making users more comfortable.