NewsGator-Sponsored White Paper Tackles Enterprise 2.0 Privacy Concerns In Europe

DENVER, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparent access to people and information is Enterprise 2.0's great promise. It's tempered, however, by a privacy risk that is especially sensitive in the European Union, where social profiles and other content are subject to privacy laws and regulations.

A new white paper sponsored by NewsGator addresses this dilemma head on. Drawing on interviews with six prominent companies, "Implementing Enterprise 2.0 within the European Union: Transparency and Emergence vs. Privacy and Compliance" scopes the issues, identifies obstacles, provides lessons learned and offers some best approaches. The paper is authored by Carl Frappaolo of Information Architected Inc. and The 2.0 Adoption Council.

"In order to remain competitive but also compliant, European organizations, and global organizations with offices in Europe, need to balance knowledge access and social computing with privacy," writes Frappaolo. "The focus of this report is this very issue, and how organizations that have been successful with Enterprise 2.0 initiatives have dealt with privacy issues, using not just a single approach but a range of approaches."

Among the report's findings:

• Corporate culture matters: The urgency of privacy concern depends to some degree on a company's locale and vertical industry, but its corporate culture exerts the greatest effect on its perspective.

• The virtual world complicates: Although privacy is regulated at a regional and local level, the virtual world created through modern technology poses many vexing questions. National and corporate lines are becoming blurred, making some existing laws dated.

• Data is a personal asset: The social and personal data associated with Enterprise 2.0 should be viewed as a personal asset and thus shared only under the strict control of each individual.

• Security-based technology and features are far behind access and collaboration features in Enterprise 2.0 products.

• Opt-in functionality is a popular and a somewhat simple way to handle many data privacy concerns, but it is not a panacea. Many challenges are associated with how specifically to utilize opt-in.

"The European Commission is embracing Privacy by Design, meaning data protection must be considered from the earliest stages of development of a new product or service," said Melissa Risteff, vice president of marketing at NewsGator. "These evolving principles can serve to inform and protect global citizens beyond the European Union. The findings here support and enrich our own experience – which benefits our more than 2.1 million paid Social Sites users."

NewsGator offers a free download of the white paper here.  

About NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

NewsGator Technologies helps enterprises leverage social computing to deliver real business value. The company's enterprise social networking products are used by the world's most recognized brands, including Novartis, Biogen Idec, Edelman, The United States Army, and The United States Air Force. NewsGator Social Sites and Tomoye Ecco give organizations better ways to innovate, collaborate, manage knowledge, develop new employees and improve productivity. For more information, visit www.newsgator.com.

SOURCE NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

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