Privacy is one of this nation's new consumer buzz words and with good reason. Who knows what about whom, and what they do or don't do with the exploding amount of incredibly detailed information, much of it highly personal, confidential, and sensitive, is increasingly making headlines. One of the more obvious down sides of a high tech society is not that so much more information about individuals can easily be sliced, diced, analyzed, then used and stored for future use, but that this wealth of personal data may be misused and abused. Give a buck to a single charity and overnight your mailbox fills up with hundreds more appeals for every so-called worthy cause imaginable. Where did they get your name? They bought it of course. Besides your name, age, sex, marital status, where you live, where you "bank", where you shop, and what kind of car you drive, you are now categorized as a prime prospect known as a charitable donor. Each of these new pen pals can and often do also make further use of your name and related information all the while adding data about you to the electronic file. In general, information gathering is, of course, as old as the hills and a necessary evil. Credit unions, for example, need to know a lot about their members. But just how much? And who else is such information shared with? Vendors serving the individual credit unions? Third party marketers seeking a certain demographic present in a credit union's membership? Everyone? No one? It is no surprise that millions of credit union members are also put into a growing number of pigeon holes. Every time a member uses a service, the credit union treasure trove of member information increases. Privacy issues, therefore, are very much a concern of credit unions and their members, too. How a credit union deals with its privacy issues influences how members and potential members in turn view the credit union. Privacy issues can be a relationship maker or breaker. That's why credit union leadership from the national CU trade groups to a growing number of individual credit unions have stepped up to the plate to assure members that credit unions have their best interests at heart and have nothing to hide when it comes to privacy issues. Kudos to CUNA for not only adopting a model credit union privacy policy statement (see Newswatch, December 6, 1999) and making it widely available, but for also developing and publicizing a Web site privacy policy for itself and its many affiliates (see www.cuna.org/data/privacy.html) Kudos also to those credit unions that have already used the CUNA model policy to develop and institute their own privacy policy, or done so on their own, before they are actually required to do so. Here are the highlights of CUNA's model privacy policy for CUs: "Our credit union will collect only the personal information that is necessary to conduct our business; Our credit union will protect your personal information; You will always have access to your information; Our credit union will only share information when absolutely necessary; Our credit union will partner only with businesses that follow strict confidentiality requirements; and Our credit union will offer you a choice in how your information is used." For its Web site privacy policy, CUNA addresses four specific areas: "Affiliate information; General information; On-line registration; and E-mail." Credit Union Times has also put together a privacy policy. It was developed by our special assignment editor, Carol Anne Burger, who has probably written more on the subject of privacy than any other credit union journalist. Our policy was released in the January 5, 2000 issue in a prominent box on page eight directly below this weekly column. It reads in part: "Credit Union Times does not sell, rent, exchange or otherwise disclose our mailing list or information about our subscribers or visitors to our Web site." Our policy also addresses e-mail, letters to the editor, and how we will and will not use information about subscribers and Web site visitors. It also mentions that "we will place no `cookies' (used to identify Web site visitors) on your hard drive." In the interest of full disclosure, that last statement is not 100% accurate. There is actually one exception. We do use a "cookie" to prevent anyone from voting more than one time on any of our regular Web site voting polls (see current poll regarding NCUA at www.cutimes.com). When the polls were first introduced as a regular feature of our Web site, it immediately became painfully obvious that some individuals sat at their computers all night racking up votes for their cause. We quickly installed software to prevent this multiple voting. Had we not done this, the polls would have no credibility and be basically worthless. This is the only exception to our stated privacy policy. In general and specifically as it involves credit unions, the subject of privacy will continue to be featured prominently in the media. Fortunately, there is also a great deal of current information on credit unions and privacy issues readily available, besides that mentioned above. In addition, the subject is covered regularly on several credit union related Web sites, especially CUNA's. Pertinent articles also appear from time to time in several credit union publications, but frequently in the pages of Credit Union Times. Also, an excellent overview article from a credit union volunteer perspective appeared on page one of the January, 2000 issue of the Policymaker (see www.policymkr.com) a monthly newsletter aimed at credit union boards and other CU policymakers. Despite all the attention being given to privacy issues, many credit unions continue to ignore the matter as though it will eventually go away. It won't! Quite the opposite in fact. Rather than ignore or fight it, here's another opportunity for credit unions, both individually and as an industry, to show that credit unions are different and have a deep concern for the rights of their members.
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