[Air-l] ethics -- aol data

['Gail Taylor]

AOL has 8 privacy principles and none of them directly addresses how search information might be compiled or distributed to others. As a longtime AOL user, I might take exception with how the 8th principle has been applied in the past and more recently. I have, though, found that principles have been translated into practice consistently for the last 10 years or so. Here are the principles:

(1) We do not read your private online communications. 

(2) We do not use any information about where you personally go on AOL or the Web, and we do not give it out to others.
 
(3) We do not give out your telephone number, credit card information or screen names, unless you authorize us to do so. And we give you the opportunity to correct your personal contact and billing information at any time. 

(4) We may use information about the kinds of products you buy from AOL to make other marketing offers to you, unless you tell us not to. We do not give out this purchase data to others.  
  
(5) We give you choices about how AOL uses your personal information. 
   
(6) We take extra steps to protect the safety and privacy of children. 

(7) We use secure technology, privacy protection controls and restrictions on employee access in order to safeguard your personal information. 

(8) We will keep you informed, clearly and prominently, about what we do with your personal information, and we will advise you if we change our policy. 



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Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student
Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant

"We can't just have mainstream behavior
on television in a free society. We have
to make sure we see the whole panorama 
of human behavior." -- Jerry Springer