FTC cautions companies to avoid Google’s fate

{mosads}In a blog post, senior FTC attorney Lesley Fair urged executives to carefully scrutinize the details of their privacy policies to ensure they match their companies actual operations. She said companies also need to remember that if they agree to join a self-regulatory group, they have to follow the group’s policies.

“Membership in self-regulatory programs is your call, but once you advertise your adherence to an industry code, live up to its terms,” she wrote.

The FTC claimed that by tracking Safari users, Google violated the standards it agreed to as a member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI).

Fair said companies should ensure that their executive, lawyers and technology teams are communicating effectively so that everyone understands what it is really happening behind the scenes at the company.

“Your information technology staff needs to run a strong lead-off with smooth baton passes to your marketing execs and legal advisors,” Fair wrote in the Olympics-themed post. “But victory depends on a solid anchor leg from top management committed to crossing the finish line in front.”

—Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled the name of FTC attorney Leslie Fair