Re: Requesting User Information and Policy Agreement Prior to Data Exports

["Heather Morrison" <hmorrison@ola.bc.ca>]

hi Patrick, In a nutshell:  yes, there are privacy / freedom issues, as
well as economic ones for your company, because many institutions would
not be able to purchase under such conditions, due to local privacy laws.  
The intellectual freedom issue comes up because in this situation, users
who are not willing to divulge personal information will lose out on
access.  Following is a slightly revised repeat of a message I'd sent on
this issue this summer; I would also highly recommend looking up Dr. David
Goodman's messages on privacy and ICOLC from this summer, as these explain
in some detail the kind of technical requirements needed to ensure
privacy.

repeat of message on privacy:

The privacy of the individual user has long been regarded as one of the
most basic ethical principles of librarianship.  One example of the
expression of this principle can be found on the American Library
Association's web site at
http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Governance/Policy_Manual/Services.htm
see:  52.4 Confidentiality of Library Records:

[snip]

The ethical responsibilities of librarians, as well as statutes in most
states and the District of Columbia, protect the privacy of library users.
Confidentiality extends to "information sought or received, and materials
consulted, borrowed, acquired," and includes database search records,
reference interviews, circulation records, interlibrary loan records, and
other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or
services.

[snip - there's more on the site]

Note:  in addition to statutes protecting the privacy of library users, a
great many jurisdictions have enacted "Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy" type laws.

See also the ICOLC Privacy Guidelines for Electronic Resources Vendors a: 
http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/2002privacyguidelines.html The
significance of the ICOLC Privacy Guidelines, from my point of view,is
this:

Those who are responsible for purchasing electronic resources in a very
great many of the world's libraries considered the question:  do
individual users have the right to expect privacy in the realm of
electronic resources?  And the answer was a resounding yes, as expressed
in the ICOLC Privacy Guidelines.  In particular, the question of whether
gathering information about individuals to resell for advertising purposes
could be seen as an acceptable business practice was soundly rejected, as
being a serious violation of this fundamental principle.  The Guidelines
themselves are deliberately somewhat broad and philosophical in nature
(like the ALA statement above), recognizing that changes in technology
could render obsolete any specific procedural proscriptions.

This is a personal viewpoint.

cheers,

Heather Grace Morrison, ELN

****