Do we give our users control over the services they receive and the information they share?

Users want to be in control of how their information is used or shared. California law already gives consumers the right to learn how their personal information is shared by companies and encourages the adoption of simple methods for individuals to have the ability to opt out of information sharing.

Failing to ask opt-in permission to use or share personal information, or making it difficult for users to remove themselves from lists or terminate use of products, risks alienating existing users and discouraging others from joining. Follow an ethos of putting the user in control and your relationship with your users may be far more positive.

• Use opt-in to activate any new services or features. Users will often happily volunteer to use new features—if they are given the choice. When new features are simply activated without consent, however, backlash can be severe. Overall, giving users a choice can lead to more trust and, ultimately, more users.

Google: In early 2010, Google tried to jump on the social networking bandwagon by releasing its own new service, Google Buzz. But the biggest buzz about the new service focused on privacy because Google pre-populated "following" lists with frequent chat and email contacts and made that information public by default. Media articles called Buzz a “privacy nightmare” and warned that Buzz “managed to completely overstep the bounds of personal privacy.” Within weeks of launch, Google Buzz became the subject of a class action lawsuit and an FTC privacy complaint.

• Use opt-in to initiate or change data collection or sharing. Users are particularly concerned that their personal information might be shared without their permission. Giving them the choice to share data puts them in control and will mitigate these fears.

Facebook: The popular social networking site has repeatedly failed to include adequate privacy protections in its new features and has paid with complaints by hundreds of thousands of users, calls for boycotts, legislative proposals for industry regulation, and loss in both reputation and advertising partners. When Facebook announced its new Beacon advertising service in 2007, which tied a user's activity on external Web sites to the user's Facebook profile, the service leaked surprise holiday gifts, engagement plans, and other private information to friends and family. The widespread outrage and negative press forced the company to modify this feature, but not before several large advertisers withdrew from the new program and Facebook was hit with a class-action lawsuit. In 2009, Facebook settled the case, agreeing to fully shut down the ill-fated program and pay $9.5 million dollars to establish an independent foundation to fund projects that promote privacy, safety, and security.