Hewlett-Packard is hoping to assemble a group of companies to create a
protocol on the ethical use of personal information on customers and
employees.
The IT giant believes it has ‘leading edge’ policies in the area, which
it treats as a core corporate social responsibility topic, and would
like to work with other companies to agree common principles and
actions, such as privacy pledges in corporate codes of conduct and
privacy safeguards ‘designed in’ at an early stage of new product
development – two measures that HP has already adopted.
Although negotiations have not yet begun, HP says there are ‘a couple
of other businesses’ with which it could begin talks on drawing up
‘binding corporate rules for firms like us that are getting more
explicit in this field.’ Barb Lawler, chief privacy officer at HP, said: ‘There is a tendency
for companies not to think of privacy as a part of their CSR framework,
but we have chosen very explicitly to do so. For us the ethical use of
personal data we hold on customers, shareholders and employees is one
of the key elements of being a responsible company. ’
HP has taken what it claims is the unusual step of adopting a global
policy on the way it treats personal data gained through product
orders, employee records, credit applications and software
registration. Its code of conduct refers to the policy, which applies
European Union requirements on the use of information such as phone
numbers and email addresses across all HP’s operations – even if
national law elsewhere is less restrictive.
David Lear, HP’s vice president of corporate responsibility, said the
company had adopted a safety first policy on handling customer
information because it regards privacy as an important factor in
determining its reputation. He added that HP had deliberately taken a
‘very conservative’ approach, applying its policy to almost every
customer interaction, especially online. ‘Many companies have policies
that are a little more aggressive than ours, such as requiring
customers to uncheck boxes rather than check them,’ said Lear. ‘Our
view is that we should give customers complete control. And we also
apply our policy to suppliers and resellers.’
Faris Natour, advisory services manager at Business for Social
Responsibility, said more companies should be treating the subject in
this way. ‘Privacy fits neatly into the overall set of issues referred
to as CSR,’ she said. ‘The technical nature of privacy means that
[others] will handle it rather than CSR generalists, but … CSR people
need to be aware of the issue and the expectations around it.’
