The firm of technology analysts said that while many US citizens have accepted sacrificing some of their personal privacy as a price for heightened security, some businesses are taking advantage of those sacrifices and are using personal information for marketing purposes.
Walter Janowski, research director for Gartner, said:
"Economic pressures are driving businesses to be more aggressive in how they address customers, but the privacy sacrifices that customers make for national security will not translate into tolerance for privacy abuses in less-critical areas, such as marketing,"
He added,
"In a climate in which the general public is greatly concerned with corporate ethics and accountability, a business that makes a significant misstep in managing its customers' private information could face a highly visible and damaging public scandal."
To ensure the privacy of consumers' personal information and avoid mandated government legislation, Gartner recommends that businesses do the following:
Proceed with efforts to reinforce privacy programs by instituting formal processes to restrict internal access to personal customer data.
Adopt proactive marketing techniques to solicit "opt-in" permission from customers for marketing.
Consider US government privacy regulations in the healthcare and financial services industries as indicators of possible general privacy regulations. Also, consider new California legislation that will come into effect in on July 1, 2003 mandating that all entities conducting business in California through electronic means must report breaches of security which could effect California residents.
Examine the rules and laws regarding privacy of the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations as possible templates for US regulations.
"Although businesses and vendors cannot forecast the shape that US government privacy legislation could take, those that address privacy management concerns today will be ahead of their competition and will be better prepared to accommodate privacy legislation requirements," said Janowski.
According to Gartner, another hurdle is that a majority of businesses are indifferent when it comes to purchasing vendor solutions for privacy management, and vendor interest is limited in delivering solutions.
"Businesses are hesitant to buy solutions until they are more compelling, but vendors are reluctant to devote resources to development until more customers are willing to buy," said Janowski. "Caught in the middle are customers who are confused and highly sensitive about the security of their personal information."