Dan Gillmor is a BoingBoing guest-blogger.
The ACLU of Northern California has put out a primer, Privacy and Free Speech: It's Good for Business, (1.5 MB pdf) to "help companies avoid privacy and free speech mistakes that can lead to negative press, government investigations and fines, costly lawsuits, and loss of customers and business partners."
Among other sections, this primer will help businesses:
* Keep users informed about privacy policies and new services so customer surprise doesn't lead to front-page horror stories.
* Secure customer information by creating forward-thinking policies about data collection, retention, and disclosure.
* Stand up for free speech rights so customers don't let their mouse clicks to a competitor do the talking.
By making privacy and free speech a priority as new ventures and products are being developed, companies can save time and money by protecting customer rights while bolstering the bottom line.
An HTML version is in the works, I'm told.
