Users of the social web now have a "Bill of Rights". Plaxo's Joseph Smarr has taken the core principles of their privacy policy, extended them to social networks, and recruited Marc Canter, Mike Arrington and Robert Scoble to support him in guaranteeing users of social networks three key principles:
An interesting publicity stunt? Or is there something more.
I'm in the something more camp.
Smarr is taking the basic privacy principles guaranteed in law in Canada and the EU, and extending them to all kinds of data which users might reasonably think of as personal but which the law may not provide guarantees about. Your address book is your property, not the property of the company hosting it. And your address book is the DNA of your social network.
It's particularly relevant that the driver behind this effort is Plaxo. Dogged by privacy allegations from their early days, these folks have become model citizens in the world of online privacy, and deserve kudos for what they have done and continue to do.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
The company I work for, Spoke, operates in this area and have been talking to the folks who put together the Bill of Rights about this. We think this is a great idea and something that all users should want and all companies should provide as soon as they can.
{ 1 trackback }