Eli Lilly Settles On Web Site Privacy Lawsuit

Story:

In the first case in which the Federal Trade Commission prosecuted an unintentional violation of a web site privacy policy, Eli Lilly has settled by agreeing to annual reviews of its policies and practices.

The problem arose when Lilly gathered email addresses of Prozac users in order to send them reminder emails. When the pharmaceutical company was preparing to stop the service, an inexperienced employee sent an email to subscribers, inadvertently including the addresses of all 669 subscribers in the message.

Analysis:

It is not enough to make sure that you have policies in place. You also must make sure that employees are properly trained in the use of technology.

Do you know the training record of your employees who handle email? Have they been evaluated in the use of your company's Internet tools?

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