Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

The Federal Trade Commission And Consumer Privacy In The Coming Decade, Joseph Turow, Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Nathaniel Good, Jens Grossklags

Chris Jay Hoofnagle

The large majority of consumers believe that the term “privacy policy” describes a baseline level of information practices that protect their privacy. In short, “privacy,” like “free” before it, has taken on a normative meaning in the marketplace. When consumers see the term “privacy policy,” they believe that their personal information will be protected in specific ways; in particular, they assume that a website that advertises a privacy policy will not share their personal information. Of course, this is not the case. Privacy policies today come in all different flavors. Some companies make affirmative commitments not to share the personal …