Ever since the Pentagon announced the “America Supports You” Freedom Walk for September 11, people have been pointing out the incongruity of an event that celebrates freedom but requires participants to register with the Pentagon and provide personal information. A few days ago, the Pentagon stated that it would be “removing the boxes [on the form] that ask for personal data” and adding a privacy statement to the site. Today it took steps in that direction.
If you compare the current registration form with the Google cache (or the copy I saved yesterday), you’ll see that the red asterisks next to some form labels have disappeared. While the boxes are still there, the address and phone number are no longer required (and the JavaScript check for their presence has been disabled). All that’s required now are the participant’s full name, e-mail address, and shirt size (though T-shirts still aren’t mentioned on the site).
Also, at the bottom of the page (and other pages on the Freedom Walk site) there’s now a link to a privacy statement like those found on many websites. It’s pretty much a copy of the privacy statement used on many Defense Department websites, but there are a couple of interesting sentences missing. Here’s the third point from the Freedom Walk privacy statement:
3. Privacy Act Statement - If you choose to provide us with personal information — like filling out a Contact Us, Registration or Volunteer form with e-mail and/or postal addresses — we only use that information to respond to your message or request. We never create individual profiles or give it to any private organizations. While you must provide an e-mail address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatially in response to questions or comments that you may submit, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number.
Now here’s the third point from the DefenseLINK privacy statement, with two sentences highlighted:
3. Privacy Act Statement - If you choose to provide us with personal information — like filling out a Contact Us form with e-mail and/or postal addresses — we only use that information to respond to your message or request. We will only share the information you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. We never create individual profiles or give it to any private organizations. DefenseLINK never collects information for commercial marketing. While you must provide an e-mail address or postal address for a response other than those generated automatially in response to questions or comments that you may submit, we recommend that you NOT include any other personal information, especially Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration offers additional guidance on sharing your Social Security number.
Notice that those two sentences are missing in the version on the Freedom Walk site. It appears that someone copied the privacy statement but specifically removed those, which means that someone doesn’t want to give up the ability provide the information collected to other government agencies or to use it for commercial marketing to participants. Would-be registrants beware.
