Assignment task:
Our customers, their data and how we protect our data can all important topics. How that we deal with our customers information can be the difference between a great relationship and a poor relationship. In this module, you will be exploring the wonderful world of the Canadian Privacy landscape. For the most part, Privacy is something that is dictated by the customer. In some instances, the customer will be willing to share lots of information. In social media, the point is to share everything about their lives with others, and is using the relationship with the provider to communicate with others. The user will realize that in order to use a free program, they will have to give up a lot of their privacy in order to share what they want to share. Check out the agreement that you might have with Google here.
Google Privacy Agreement:
In other cases, many governments have put into place very strict and concise rules around how that information can be collected and used. Canada has one of the most stringent privacy policies that dictate how a relationship should be conducted between companies and customers. While these can be comprehensive, it is important to know how you can develop your information base and what you can do with it. In some cases it can dictate how you match strategy with relationship development. Read through the following information and get a feel for Canadian standards. Many of these concepts have been duplicated in other parts of the world. Remember that each country will have its' own rules as to what is private and what is not.
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada)
This act was introduced in the late 1990's as a way to protect customers from unwanted contact, and for the protection of customers to have information sensitive to customers from being passed from institution to institution. List buying became a difficult way to be able to get good targeted information. Thanks to the introduction of other technologies, Marketers were able to find ways to gather information that were legal under reciprocal agreements (read social media). Suddenly, when we rapid fire agree to the terms and conditions of everything from Facebook and Twitter to your Iphone applications, you are agreeing to share your information and be communicated with. Our Canadian regulators agreed that even this might have been going too far, and as a result put together some new rules, specifically regarding email communications, social media targeting, and any other solicitation that you might receive from companies that you don't have an immediate relationship with. The Canadian Anti Spam Legislation hoped to solve that. Read that here.
CASL
And
Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Link
Finally, you will find that in addition to governments protecting customers, marketers also want to make sure that codes of practice are followed, specifically around how that an industry deals with customers. When new businesses are looking for information about local rules and traditions, the marketing organizations can provide both guidance and best practices. The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) is a Canada wide organization that provides both a resource and a structure for how marketers generally should deal with customer information. Their code of ethics and privacy rules are used as a standard that all marketing organizations need to follow. Members must adhere to these rules and guidelines as part of membership, and most companies gladly use the information as a way to remain competitive in a very complex information environment. Follow the link to get a feel for what is expected of a marketer in Canada.
Canadian Marketing Association Privacy and Code of Ethics
Assignment: Your job is to make a reflection of your findings on privacy, and create a summary of your responsibilities in regard to privacy as it relates to database marketing. Limit you answer to one page - put your reflections in paragraph form and your responsibilities into a bulleted list