PoolSolutions PoolLetter Info

My Privacy Policy for PoolSolutions

Why privacy matters.
What the policy at PoolSolutions?
What kind of data does PoolSolutions 'collect?
What certifies the PoolSolutions privacy policy?


Why privacy matters.: Beyond the visceral "I don't want someone snooping on me", there are some far more serious issues. Almost trivial, is the the problem of spam. It's a nuisance. It costs money. It clogs the Internet. But there are more important issues.

It's the avowed goal of some marketing data collection companies to know more about you, by 2005, than you'll ever know about yourself. Their plan is to establish a record of every page you view on the Internet, every purchase you ever make with a credit or debit card, every direct email or postal mail or telemarketing appeal you ever respond to, every catalog you order from . . . Unlike Orwell's Big Brother, these companies are not controlled by the government, and they plan to know more about you than Big Brother ever did. The implications of this are terrifying: their goal is to make it possible to design sales tactics perfectly tuned to bypass your defences so you can be sold even more stuff you don't need and would have never wanted.

What's worse -- you'll have little or no control over the data that enters their files. And, some of it will be wrong.

I can't stop that, but I won't contribute to it either.

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What is the policy at PoolSolutions?: I won't voluntarily give any of the personal information you give me here, to anyone outside of PoolSolutions. [I will, and have, published aggregate info: ie., [30% of residential poolowners have . . ." stuff.]

And, I don't spam.

But, I do make some effort, especially with paying subscribers, to determine that you are who you claim.

There are several reasons for this. I've had some cases where someone -- I couldn't determine who -- submitted someone else's email address in a PoolLetter request. They weren't pleased, and accused me of spamming them. Also, there are a number of people who are less than pleased with the PoolSolutions website, and it's in my best interest to identify them, when they show up in my mailing lists.
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What kind of data does PoolSolutions collect?: There are several kinds of information I collect, and keep.

For those who purchase -- either a product, or subscription -- I keep name, address, email address, and phone number, online. I currently keep paper copies of everything else, though I need to move this online, once I can get a fast enough scanner: last summer's ('99) stuff filled two file cabinets which we need for other stuff.

Important: Subscribers, I use your phone number to contact you if there's a problem with your email address (as in, it bounces back to me). No phone number, no contact. Suit yourself.

Email addresses and names, I need for obvious purposes. Postal addresses, I need so I can mail you the testkit, or whatever -- and so I can verify identity. I keep a record of all this for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is that the IRS says I must.
: I also keep keep the normal records (website logfiles) of the IP addresses and domain names of those who visit my site (as does almost everyone who has a website: website "log files" include a record of every request for every webpage, identified by time, browser and computer type, and Internet IP address of the originating computer.) However, these files 'roll over' and are replaced by current stuff: I only archive the ones with wierd doings in them, such as hacking attempts, email spam spiders, and pool company employees pretending to be someone else.

I do occasionally cross-match stuff, and tend to discard orders where info doesn't match. (Phone # in California; address in Texas). I don't cash the checks, though.

I keep all this stuff, but I don't sell it. I don't give it away, and I don't use it to do unsolicited marketing. I have made mistakes, and sent people the wrong email, but it was because I'm sometimes a doofus, not because I meant to do so.
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What certifies the PoolSolutions' privacy policy?: Nothing, except my word.

Of course, it's turned out that the leading privacy certification mark (Truste) doesn't certify anything meaningful, either. Amazon, Microsoft and Real Networks all engaged in widely reported violations of their users' privacy; all were Truste liscensees; none had their license revoked.
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