DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

I have a few positive experiences to report. I’ve had the pleasure of sending money to a few companies that promise to treat my personal information as something to be guarded, rather than as something to be sold.

Loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio includes a card with their merchandise promoting online warranty registration. The card claims, “The data we gather on our on-line registration is never sold or otherwise shared with anyone.” I love to see that! I stopped filing warranty registrations ten years ago, when I realized that the amount of junk mail I received was directly proportional to the number of boxes I’d checked off the last time I sent in a warranty registration card. But I took Polk’s claims at face value and registered online in an effort to support the sort of business model I can feel good about, i.e. making money by selling a product rather than selling customer data.

One caution: I’m pretty sure the analog registration method (that is, the postcard with 60 checkboxes on it, asking what magazines I read and — unbelievable — how much money I make), is almost certain to generate an avalanche of glossy, coated-paper crap via the USPS. Buy Polk, but register online.

I also made a purchase recently from Crutchfield. As it is a huge, catalog-sales, mail-order vendor, I was surprised to see this on the order form:

The remarkable thing is, the “NO” option was prechecked! When was the last time you saw a company use opt-in rather than opt-out? I’m online more often than not and I was shocked (happily) to see this.

In the privacy doghouse is the Life Extension Foundation, whose FAQ claims, No information, including names, addresses or e-mail addresses is leased or sold to anyone else. But when I called them to confirm, two sales reps admitted that their opt-out system is broken — once you’re in the customer database, they lose control, and your private data could be sold to anyone.

Further caution: LEF.org uses Microsoft’s Passport service! That’s a great big red flag for anyone concerned about privacy. Microsoft’s track record is so poor that the phrase Microsoft security is an oxymoron.

So, LEF lost my business, and earned the wrong kind of publicity right here. If you’d like to live forever, I strongly suggest you place your order for anti-aging supplements with iHerb.com, whose privacy policy is short, unambiguous, and confirmed by their sales reps:

We do not sell, rent or share personal information with any third party. The information you give us is totally confidential, and will not be sold or given to any individual or company or organization under any circumstances. This is our simple promise to you.

When I called to confirm this claim, the iHerb rep actually scoffed at me. I generally don’t like to be scoffed at, but if ever there was a time to be scoffed at it’s just after asking the question “Will your company sell or rent my private data?” We don’t do that, he said derisively.

So, applause all around: Polk Audio, Crutchfield, and iHerb (maker of fine organic home theater components), thank you and good luck!

(The standard disclaimer applies: I’m making these endorsements without compensation, and regrettably do not expect to profit should you decide to patronize these fine merchants.)