Contemporary Marketing, 2013 Update 15th Edition by Louis Boone ,David Kurtz

Exercise 3

One of the lingering obstacles to e-business revolves around privacy concerns. Virtually all websites collect user data. Internet service providers, for example, can track where users go on the Web and store that information. Search engines keep detailed data on users' Internet searches. Those arguing that additional privacy laws and regulations are needed claim that users never know exactly what information is collected, nor when it is collected. Moreover, there is no means for determining whether websites follow their own privacy policies.
On the other hand, some say current laws and regulations are adequate because they make it illegal for firms to misrepresent their privacy policies or fail to disclose the type of information collected.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that Internet companies are quietly passing on specific customer information to outside parties. Aside from the strictly legal issues, Web privacy raises a number of ethical issues as well.
Assume your company collects and stores personal information about its online customers. The company's privacy policy allows the company to give limited amounts of that information to "selected" third parties.
Is this policy, in your opinion, appropriate and adequate? What ethical issues does your company's policy raise?