ABSTRACT

This chapter considers instruments that are inherently 'voluntary in nature. Self-regulatory instruments for privacy protection have been called codes, guidelines, standards and so on, and there is generally no correlation between name and function. Privacy commitments tend to be relatively brief pledges, often more public-relations in tone than substantive, and they are often designed more for external consumption than to affect the internal functioning of the organization. Privacy codes of practice differ from privacy commitments in the simple fact that they embody a set of rules for employees, members or member organizations to follow. The phenomenon of a privacy standard extends the self-regulatory code of practice in some important ways. The development of a specific 'mark' or 'seal' for privacy protection has, however, proliferated on the Internet. Privacy protection marks or seals are certainly a necessary corollary of the code of practice and the standard.