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Nymity Inc., one of Canada's leading privacy research firms, has recognized the Canadian companies with the most transparent privacy policies by presenting them with the 2006 Top Privacy Policies in Canada award. The Award goes to the companies that best provide clear, complete and readily available notice of their privacy policies and practices.
In first place is TD Bank Financial Group followed by a two-way tie with Ceridian Canada and CanWest Global Communications Corp. The five organizations tied for third place were TELUS, Scotiabank, Vancity, MCAP and Aviva Canada.
"Effective privacy policies made available on a company's website assist consumers with making informed decisions while increasing an organization's accountability and compliance with privacy laws," explains Terry McQuay, President of Nymity Inc. "Nymity's Awards simply recognizes the organizations that best provide clear, complete and readily available notice of their privacy policies and practices."
David Loukidelis, BC's Information and Privacy Commissioner, said this about the Awards: "Consumers expect transparency by businesses about their privacy practices and clear privacy policies are a key part of that openness. I commend this year's winners of the Nymity award for their efforts in building trust with their customers."
Award Winners
Nymity assessed hundreds of organizations in eight key business sectors and the awards go to the top five performers in each. The winners are:
| Telecommunications | Retail |
|
- TELUS | |
- Chapters Indigo |
| - Télébec | | - Holt Renfrew |
| - Bell | | - Sears Canada |
| - Rogers | | - Costco Canada |
| - Aliant | | - Roots Canada |
| Financial Services (outside of Insurance banking) | Insurance |
| - Vancity | |
- Aviva Canada |
| - MCAP | | - First Canadian Title |
| - ATB Financial | | - LAWPRO |
| - FinanciaLinx | | - Belairdirect Profile |
| - GMAC Financial Services | | - Manulife Financial |
| Banking |
Consumer Services |
| - TD Bank Financial Group | |
- Workopolis |
| - Scotiabank | | - AIR MILES Reward Program |
| - CIBC | | - Equifax Canada |
| - Laurentian Bank of Canada | | - TransUnion |
| - RBC Royal Bank | | - eBay Canada |
| Media | Business Services (outsourcing sector) |
| - CanWest Global |
| - Ceridian Canada |
| - Communications Corp | | - Ipsos Canada |
| - Thomson Nelson | | - Aon Consulting Inc. |
| - Alliance Atlantis | | - ADP Canada |
| - Transcontinental | | - Kelly Services |
| - CHUM Limited | | |
Frank Work, Alberta's Information and Privacy Commissioner, said this about the awards: "I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to those organizations being recognized for having the best privacy policies. Developing a clear and complete privacy policy is an excellent step. This tells your customers and clients that you are committed to maintaining and protecting their information, and shows your commitment to privacy principles."
Mr. Work continues: "Of course, implementation of a policy is the critical component, but everyone in your organization needs to know what your privacy policy is, and all employees must be made aware of the possible implications of not following that policy."
Privacy Notice: An Ongoing Business Priority
Nymity's research indicates that many organizations invested in privacy policy development in the last year and overall the transparency of privacy policies has improved since last year's awards program. "The trend for winners that were recognized in both 2005 and 2006 shows that the leaders update their policies at least annually," explains Terry McQuay. "Nymity's research also found that the business-to-business community is investing in privacy notices, especially service providers involved in outsourcing."
"The trend demonstrated by these organizations is that smart businesses are thinking strategically about privacy. Strengthening one's privacy policies and improving the quality of the notice provided makes good business sense. My mantra has always been 'privacy is good for business,'" said Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario."Congratulations to this year's winners."
Privacy Notice: A Key Component of Privacy Management
Nymity's research has shown that organizations that invest in their privacy policies typically make significant investments in their privacy management programs. Three key components of a privacy management program that benefit from clear and complete privacy policies are: privacy notice, employee training and privacy audits.
- A privacy notice, typically in the form of an online privacy
policy, demonstrates an organization's knowledge of and commitment
to privacy for consumers, business partners and to the regulators.
Privacy notices help an organization's customers make informed
decisions and demonstrate compliance with privacy laws. This was
demonstrated by the Award-winning companies.
- Employee privacy training programs should use privacy policies as
the guideline for employees' handling of personal information.
Clear and complete privacy policies combined with training will
reduce employee mistakes that lead to privacy breaches.
- Privacy audits, typically conducted annually, measure the
organization's effectiveness in following the organization's
privacy policies and compliance with privacy laws. Clear and
complete policies maximize the effectiveness of the audits.
"Companies that are upfront with consumers with respect to how their personal information will be handled have a decided business advantage in the marketplace both in terms of building consumer trust and in helping consumers clearly understand how their personal information will be safeguarded," said John Gustavson, President and CEO of the Canadian Marketing Association."It's very encouraging to see that a number of CMA members have been recognized by Nymity for having excellent corporate privacy policies."
Conclusion
Organizations need to maintain readily available privacy policies that are clear and complete. Doing so provides consumers the necessary information to make informed decisions. As well, they provide organizations with documentation that can be used for privacy notices, guidelines that can be used when training employees and a framework for auditing their privacy practices. Increasingly, the business-to-business sectors are creating privacy policies to demonstrate their understanding of and commitment to privacy, especially when outsourcing is involved. Nymity's annual Awards program recognizes organizations in Canada that have the most transparent privacy policies made readily available to consumers, business partners and regulators through the organization's website.
Nymity Inc. is Canada's leading privacy research firm. Nymity provides pragmatic privacy risk management solutions that help organizations mitigate risks that lead to privacy breaches, customer complaints and non-compliance with privacy laws. Nymity's research is used by privacy officers, lawyers with privacy practices, privacy consultants and privacy commissioners' offices across Canada.
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