Customers' trust about personal data can't be bought

WITH more companies offering up customers' personal data for sale, governments are moving to intervene more deeply. In the US, for example, the Obama administration has proposed a wide-ranging bill intended to provide Americans with more control over the information that companies collect about them. In Europe, proposed data protection rules are being rewritten to reflect individual nations' agendas.

There's a real danger that multiple country rules might undermine the Internet's openness. They might also limit user access and create expensive duplicate infrastructures. So companies must get ahead of the threat.

Yet, many companies still miss the point: In a digital age, this is all about earning their customers' trust. The thoughtless click of the "agree" box isn't an agreement in any meaningful sense. It may protect companies from legal harm; reputational harm is another matter. Users may not have read the agreements, but many know acceptable behaviour.