Tip Top Toys is a relatively small division of Worldwide Enterprises. Worldwide has nine other divisions, which include insurance, health-care products, and financial planning services, to name a few.

The corporate marketing director for Worldwide has requested Tip Top’s customer shopping data to target people who might be likely to purchase items or services from other Worldwide divisions. The database manager is not totally comfortable with this, and pointed out Tip Top’s web privacy policy, which states “Tip Top Toys, a division of Worldwide Enterprises, will not share personal data with other companies without a customer’s consent.”

The marketing director replied that the statement only applies to outside companies — not other Worldwide divisions. He said he checked with the corporate legal department, and they agreed. The database manager replied, “Even if it is legally OK, it’s not the right thing to do. Many people take our statement to mean that their data does not leave Tip Top. At the very least, we should give customers a choice, and share the data only with their consent.”

Do you agree with the marketing director? Why or why not?