Being in the identity space, and having a product that manages people’s identity, the topic of privacy comes up often. In development of Sxipper we had a goal of making sure we were protecting people’s privacy, not reducing it. Perhaps it is because we are Canadian where privacy is a right, and privacy laws restrict what organizations can do with your personal information. This is in sharp contrast to US privacy laws which are about stating what organizations can do with your personal information. Sxipper’s privacy policy is all about what we will and won’t do with your data, with an emphasis on what we will NOT do.

Discussing this topic has led to questions about when is using someone’s data perceived as a privacy problem and I came up with Dick’s Privacy Guideline. (note there is only one guideline, and yes, I did just make up the name)

If the user is pleasantly surprised or does not notice, the use of identity information is a feature. If the user is unpleasantly surprised, then it is a privacy problem.

For example, if you add a book on Barbados to your Amazon shopping cart, you will see recommendations of books that other people bought that also bought that book. Most people will think this is either a pleasant surprise as they see additional books they are interested in, or not really notice.

Contrast this with buying the book on Barbados on Amazon, and then going to Facebook and seeing an advertisement for a Barbados hotel. This is not a pleasant surprise. You wonder how Facebook found out about your interest in Barbados.

As a guideline, it is a little fuzzy, but we have found it useful when building Sxipper to have a seamless user experience by gathering and remembering identity information while avoiding unpleasant surprises.