Privacy Policies of Apple Inc., IBM, and Microsoft - Report Example

? Cyber security Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Brief of the Organizations and their Mission 3 Comparison and Contrast of Privacy Policies of Apple Inc., IBM and Microsoft 5 Possible Changes To The Policies For Customer Protection 8 Possible Changes to the Policies to Give More Flexibility to Use Personal Information of Customers 9 References 12 Introduction Privacy policy is fundamentally viewed to be a legal statement or a document that manages and handles precious information of a client or a customer. The privacy policies are often used in various sectors with the intention of safeguarding different valuable information or data of the clients. This particular aspect i.e. privacy policy is much crucial towards the success or the failure of any organization. This is due to the reason that the privacy policies help the individuals belonging to any organization to maintain their autonomy as well as individuality which in turn enables them to adopt effective privacy policy related decisions in an efficient manner (Grant & Bennett, 1999). In this discussion, the comparison of privacy policies of Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation and International Business Machines (IBM) along with a detailed analysis about their organizational mission will be taken into concern. Moreover, the possible changes in the privacy policies of the aforementioned organizations that could provide better protection to the customers and flexibility within their organization will also be discussed. Brief Description of the Organizations and their Mission Apple Inc. appeared in the business world during the period of early and middle part of seventies. The company came into existence with joint efforts of the founders named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. It designs as well as sells various types of consumer electronics related products, personal computers and computer software to its large base of customers throughout the globe. The company successfully managed to generate significant value in this competitive business market due to its constant establishment of innovative products (Apple Inc., 2012). Apple is dedicated towards conserving the environment, health as well as security of its workforce and customers worldwide. The mission of the company is to produce and deliver technologically inventive products and services to its worldwide customers for the purpose of attaining significant competitive position over its chief business market competitors. Moreover, the other mission of Apple is to provide exceptional designed products and personalized services in order to increase its customer base levels by a significant level (Environmental Health and Safety Policy Statement, 2006). International Business Machines (IBM) is a multinational technology business corporation which manufactures and sells broad assortment of computers, software and micro-processors to its huge customers around the globe. The company established in the year 1911 through the process of merger of various business entities namely The Tabulating Machine Company, The Computing Scale Company and The International Time Recording Company (IBM, 2011). The mission of IBM is to provide utmost value and dedication towards establishing innovative products and build effective interrelation as well as communication with the employees in order to raise organizational effectiveness by a greater extent. Furthermore, the other mission of the company is to develop its worldwide environmental management business approaches for the motive of safeguarding the environment and remain much committed towards environmental leadership (IBM, 2007). Microsoft Corporation is regarded to be another leading American based multinational business organization which was founded in the year 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates. The corporation develops, produces, authorizes and assists broad assortment of products and services that are related to computing. The imperative products of the corporation include computer software as well as operating systems, smart phones and various consumer electronics based products among others (Microsoft, 2012). The mission of Microsoft is to provide utmost value towards various aspects which comprise mutual respect, self-respect, honesty, personal excellence and integrity. The corporation intends to develop its various products by focusing upon introducing as well as developing innovative products through the usage of high technological business procedures (Microsoft, 2012). Comparison and Contrast of Privacy Policies of Apple Inc., IBM and Microsoft Privacy Policy of Apple Inc. a. Collection And Use Of Non- Personal Information Apple Inc. collects non-personal information or data that does not authorizes direct relationship with any particular individual. The company intends to gather valuable information regarding the activities of the customers through its website and other products in order to recognize their preferred choices as well as the interests (Apple Inc., 2012). b. Integrity and Retention of Personal Information The organization maintains complete and updated personal information of the customers by creating several accounts and logging facility which can be considered as one of the imperative privacy policies of Apple (Apple Inc. 2012). c. Location- Based Services In order to offer different location-based services upon the products of Apple, the company along with its various partners might access information by providing real-time geographic location facility in its computers and electronic devices (Apple Inc., 2012). d. International Users Apple Inc. stands by the framework set by the US Department of Commerce concerning the usage, collection and preservation of personal information that are collected by organizations in the areas of Switzerland and European Economic Area (Apple Inc., 2012). Privacy Policies of IBM Handling Orders of Customers The company gathers personal data for different purposes like handling the orders of the customers and providing a subscription or a job application to them (IBM, n.d.). Development of Company through Comprehensiveness It also collects the personal information of the customers from other sources that assist the company to develop the accuracy and comprehensiveness with better interactions with the customers (IBM, n.d.). Execution of Websites and Other Technologies IBM also gathers personal information of the customers regarding their usage of websites through various technologies that include cookies among others (IBM, n.d.). Privacy Policies of Microsoft Accountability Microsoft is responsible in handling personal information within the organization with the help of business merchants as well as partners involved with the organization (Microsoft, 2012). Retention of Personal Information of the Customers The company retains and uses the personal information of the customers by obtaining consent from them by serving privacy notices (Microsoft, 2012). Protection against Unauthorized Assessing The organization increased security relating to privacy policy against illicit accessing of the information that is gathered from the customers in order to preserve strong customer base (Microsoft, 2012). Mitigating the Deficiency of Privacy Policy The organization periodically checks and enforces the deficiencies in relation to privacy policy with the support of its involved business merchants as well as partners (Microsoft, 2012). On the basis of the above discussion, it can be comprehended that the three organizations i.e. Apple Inc, IBM and Microsoft Corporation focuses mainly upon protecting valuable information that are gathered from their different users. The companies strongly believe that by incessantly forming and introducing efficient privacy policies, they can maintain their customer base and increase productivity by a significant level. Possible Changes To The Policies For Customer Protection For Apple Inc. The company might bring a possible change to its privacy policies by employing a privacy officer within its organization in order to protect its customers by a greater extent. In this similar context, a privacy officer is mainly responsible for constructing, designing and handling privacy related programs along with security based policies. The decisive roles of a privacy officer are creating as well as implementing effective program controls, frequently monitoring security operational systems, supporting privacy maintenance within an organization and most significantly developing corporate privacy related policies and processes (Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, n.d.). For IBM In order to increase customer protection, IBM could employ different technologies or mechanisms like Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), data caches and cookies among others. With the help these valuable technologies, the company can automatically gather as well as store personal information of its customers and might serve IBM to increase its customer protection (Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, n.d.). For Microsoft The organization needs to create internal reporting programs or mechanisms as a possible change in order to safeguard the personal information of the customers within the context of privacy policy issues. In this regard, an effective internal reporting program generally covers the fields such as handling as well as managing the personal information of the customers or the clients and properly organizing the guidelines relating to internet usage. Besides, the other important areas include maintaining the internal systems in the form of better accessing towards different files and complying with established laws among others (Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, n.d.). Possible Changes to the Policies to Give More Flexibility to Use Personal Information of Customers The collection and the utilization of personal information of the customers are quite vital for different business organizations within the circumstance of privacy policy. This is due to the reason that the improper execution of personal information of the customers might harm the business reputation as well as the productivity of the organizations by a larger extent. In this similar context, the organizations like Apple, IBM and Microsoft should make possible changes in their respective privacy policies in order to avoid any sort of privacy or liability issues. In order to enhance customer protection along with avoiding any sort of privacy or liability issues, the aforementioned business corporations must review their privacy statements assuring that those statements can easily be understood by the customers. Reviewing privacy statements, the organizations can build effective relationship with their valuable customers and can also avoid privacy related issues. Moreover, the organizations can establish an e-mail authentication process as a probable change to their privacy policies which would ultimately support them to facilitate the senders i.e. the customers in order to build positive reputation with the receivers i.e. the organizations on the basis of their mailing behavior. Additionally, the organizations might utilize an automated unsubscribe system that would assist the organizations to scrutinize the processed requests of the customers. With the help of an e-mail authentication process and an automated unsubscribe system, the personal information of the customers can be secured largely (TRUSTe, n.d.). Thus, it can be stated that the aforementioned policy changes in relation to privacy policy would ultimately provide the organizations more flexibility to use personal information of the customers without having or avoiding privacy or liability issues. Conclusion After acquiring a brief idea about the different privacy policies of Apple, IBM and Microsoft, it can be stated that these organizations largely values the use of personal information of the customers in order to avoid any sort of privacy or liability issues. The different possible changes in the privacy policies of the aforementioned organizations might ultimately support them to increase their customer protection by a considerable level. Moreover, the probable changes in the privacy policies may also provide the organizations with more flexibility in order to use personal information of the customers and mitigate with any such privacy issues. References Apple Inc. ( 2012). Privacy policy. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/uk/privacy/ Environmental Health and Safety Policy Statement. (2006). Mission statement. Retrieved from http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/EHS_policy2006.pdf Grant, R. A., & Bennett, C. J. (1999). Visions of privacy: policy choices for the digital age. Canada: University of Toronto Press. IBM. ( 2011). About IBM. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/ibm/us/en/ IBM. (2007). Deploying mission critical applications with Linux on power. Retrieved from http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247286.pdf IBM. (n.d.). IBM online privacy statement highlights. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/privacy/us/en/ Killingsworth , S. (2000). Website privacy policies in principle and in practice. Retrieved from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/privacy/WebsitePrivacyPractices.htm Microsoft. (2012). Microsoft accessibility. Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/enable/microsoft/mission.aspx Microsoft. (2012). Microsoft privacy principles. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/privacy/Principles.aspx Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. (n.d.). Getting accountability right with a privacy management program. Retrieved from http://www.oipc.bc.ca/pdfs/public/Getting_Accountability_Right (Apr2012).pdf TRUSTe. (n.d.). Protecting customer information online. Retrieved from http://www.truste.com/resources/privacy-best-practices#email Read More