Breaking down privacy policies

The Utah portal's privacy statement defines personally identifiable

information as "any information relating to an identified or identifiable

individual who is the subject of the information."

Specifically, that includes personal data not routinely collected by

e-Utah World Wide Web sites except for special, requested services. In those

cases, the information is treated the same way it would be in an in-person

visit — confidentially.

With regard to e-mail addresses, the policy states they "will not be

sold or given to other private companies for marketing purposes [and] individuals

will be provided with the ability to "opt out' at any time of any communications

regarding new service updates."

Iowa shares Utah's take regarding online inquires — that they should

be treated like in-person visits. Iowa's policy statement also informs constituents

that they "do not have to provide personal information to visit IOWAccess

Web sites or download information, [and] the IP [Internet Protocol] numbers

of computers used to visit IOWAccess sites are noted as part of our statistical

analysis on use of our Web sites and how to better design services and facilitate

access to them. No marketing databases are created nor is any commercial

use made of any such data."

NIC's privacy statement says "no personally identifiable data is collected"

on its Web site. The IP numbers of computers used to visit this site are

noted, "but no marketing databases are created nor is any commercial use

made of any such data."