I collect and redistribute a fair amount of travel information requests daily. This includes a significant amount of PII --pretty much everything except their credit card number. I am blunt about email privacy, there's even an advisory telling them NOT to list it if they have concerns. While I have always databased their info, a new forms script now allows the user to offer up his email address via an opt-in checkbox so that it will be collected in a separate database. While I do not (yet) have plans to share/sell their addresses, I thought it would be worthwhile to see how many would sign up. Again, I decided to be more than straightforward about just what they were opting for...
Check this box ONLY if you want your email address shared with other State & Regional travel email newsletters.
I was expecting 5 or maybe 8 percent. With a couple of hundred forms now in, the number is running close to 15 percent.
Someone once said "PII is the currency of the internet." It's true.
