• by adam.m , Michael Deibert , July 7, 2005

When consumers make online queries to large U.S. companies, odds are that the companies will use the personal information submitted by consumers to market to them--without first obtaining their explicit permission. That's the finding of a recent study by The Customer Respect Group, a research firm with U.S. headquarters in Ipswich, Mass.

For the report, "Online Customer Respect Study," the Customer Respect Group examined the privacy policies of the 100 largest U.S. corporations. While 95 percent of those corporations had privacy policies on their sites, the majority of such policies--53 percent--indicated that the companies used personal data collected from consumers for e-mail marketing campaigns without getting affirmative consent, according to the report. The report also revealed that fewer than one in three--29 percent--of the companies examined required customers using their Web sites to opt-in to receive e-mails.

In addition, 26 percent of the businesses examined shared customer information within their business group without the customer's explicit permission, 13 percent shared information with their business partners without permission, 9 percent shared the information with outside parties without permission, and 8 percent were silent. "This total of 56 percent is unacceptable," states the report.

Industry observers also were critical of both e-mailing to consumers and using or sharing personal data without first securing explicit consent.

"It's not considered good business practice to send marketing messages to someone who has not opted-in to receive them," said Bill McCloskey, the CEO of Email Data Source, Inc. "You are wasting an opportunity to begin a dialogue with customers--you're basically forcing the dialogue on them."

Privacy consultant Alan Chapell added that companies that share consumers' data without permission might be eroding consumers' faith in online marketing. "We are increasingly creating an environment where it is increasingly difficult to build relationships with customers where they have any trust [in businesses]," Chapell said.