Two companies, two approaches to developing a privacy program; yet both represent important considerations for today's privacy professional. Best Buy is a consumer technology retailer that has aggressively carved out a place among the best known and most successful brands in today's marketplace. Understanding the customer means collecting and analyzing data, but in the case of Best Buy, it also means taking possession of the electronic repositories of its customers' highly personal and sensitive information. Recognizing the responsibility that comes along with that charge, and generating awareness among a highly dispersed employee force has been a hallmark of Best Buy's privacy program.

Chevron has very little direct interaction with consumers. What it does have, however, is a large workforce distributed across the globe, where the management and transfer of personal employee information, such as payroll and insurance data, is almost certain to come into conflict with the various privacy regulations adopted by different countries. Chevron's privacy program was developed with those considerations in mind, and because of the attention to details particular to its case, as well as the influence of Chevron's corporate philosophy, the result is a much different program, but one that successfully meets the needs of the organization.

We'd like to hear how you've addressed your company's specific privacy needs and what innovations you've come up with. Write to us and let us know; yours might be the next case study profiled in Inside 1to1: Privacy.

J. Trevor Hughes, CIPP

Executive Director, IAPP