Example of a Flawed Privacy Policy

As an educational aid, the authors of This Study have added notes and emphasis.

Philadex.com Privacy Policy

Philadex.com takes your privacy seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy.

What this Privacy Policy Covers
This Privacy Policy covers. Philadex.com's treatment of personally identifiable information that Philadex.com collects when you are on the Philadex.com site, and when you use Philadex's services. This policy also covers Philadex.com's treatment of any personally identifiable information that Philadex.com business partners share with Philadex.com. This policy does not apply to the practices of companies that Philadex.com does not own or control, or to people that Philadex.com does not employ or manage.

Information Collection and Use
Philadex.com collects personally identifiable information when you register for a Philadex.com account, when you use certain Philadex.com products or services, when you visit Philadex.com pages, and when you enter promotions or sweepstakes. Philadex.com may also receive personally identifiable information from our business partners.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The author's of this study have grave concerns about the collection and combining of personal information. (Please see FTC Probing DoubleClick Data Usage Practices for more information.)
When you register with Philadex.com, we ask for your name, email address, birth date, zip code, occupation, industry, and personal interests. Once you register with Philadex.com and sign in to our services, you are not anonymous to us. Philadex.com also automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, Philadex.com cookie information and the page you requested. Philadex.com uses information for three general purposes: to customize the advertising and content you see, to fulfill your requests for certain products and services, and to contact you about specials and new products.

Information Sharing and Disclosure
Philadex.com will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to anyone.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A reader of this policy may not have noticed that it does not mention "barter of trade".
Philadex.com will send personally identifiable information about you to other companies or people when:
  1. We have your consent to share the information;
  2. We need to share your information to provide the product or service you have requested;
  3. We need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of Philadex.com to provide a product or service to you. (Unless we tell you differently, these companies do not have any right to use the personally identifiable information we provide to them beyond what is necessary to assist us.);
  4. We respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process;
  5. or We find that your actions on our web sites violate the Philadex.com Terms of Service.

Cookies
Philadex.com may set and access Philadex.com cookies on your computer. Philadex.com allows other companies that are presenting advertisements on some of our pages to set and access their cookies on your computer. Other companies' use of their cookies is subject to their own privacy policies, not this one.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We presume that these are the same companies as mentioned above -- "This policy does not apply to the practices of companies that Philadex.com does not own or control, or to people that Philadex.com does not employ or manage."
Advertisers or other companies do not have access to Philadex.com's cookies. Philadex.com may amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information we will notify you by posting a prominent announcement on our pages. If you have questions or suggestions complete a feedback form or send an email to xxxxxxx@philadex.com or call 1.877.xxx.xxxx.

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