As you have probably noticed, privacy and information security are hot topics. So hot that the country’s leading professionals are discovering that the increase in the use and integration of technology in the real estate industry brings privacy, security and real estate together in a very large way. And as every successful agent and broker knows, information, particularly personally identifiable information, is a very valuable commodity and becoming more precious daily.

Every year a barrage of "Privacy Notices" are sent from credit card and insurance companies, accountants, and most businesses that collect information about you. Did you wonder you received these notices? They were sent in compliance with a bill passed by Congress called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act or "GLBA".

Like most of us, you may have been too busy to read these multi-page, very small print privacy notices. You do need to know, however, that the concept of protecting the use and access to client's information extends beyond banks and financial institutions. In Canada, effective the first of January, 2004, every business has the responsibility to protect client and employee information. In California, the Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 was passed which states that any operator that collects personally identifiable information from a California resident through an Internet Web site or online service for commercial purposes, must post its privacy policy on its Web site or online service and comply with the policy. This bill becomes operative on July 1, 2004. Almost every other state in the United States is considering or has such legislation.

As you may have noticed, consumers shopping for a new home and selling the old one are not the same as they used to be. Buyers are turning more frequently online to look at homes. The NAR 2003 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers,” reports homebuyers are turning more and more to the Internet to look at homes (93%) and to get neighborhood information (22%). In 2001 when my firm Privacy Solutions™, Inc. was founded, first time homebuyers represented 40% of the total online home buying population (State of Online Real Estate, July, 2000, Gomez.com). That means that two-thirds of buyers in the first half of 2003 used the Internet to search for a home!

So where does privacy fit into this? Wireless PDAs, transaction action management software and electronic transfer of documents, among many other new technologies, extend the possibilities for interruption, misuse or inappropriate access to data. Whether online or offline, part of this changing landscape of cyberspace is the amount of personal, private, public and financial information that is being collected and integrated electronically. That sensitive collected data is now electronically available and transferable and is being used for a wide variety of purposes.

The real estate industry needs to be aware that consumers are challenging the use and misuse of data at all business levels. They are demanding government regulation and these government-mandated privacy regulations are changing the way the world does business. Attacks on access to public information and a wide variety of federal and state laws together with regulatory interpretations are beginning to redefine the value of customer and consumer data by putting restrictions on the way it is gathered, used and accessed and how rights to use data may be transferred.

Currently the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has increased its review of its rules and guidelines and has stepped up its enforcement and investigations for non-compliance of privacy, security and deceptive business practices. It is certainly clear that there are enough rules and regulations on the books and, therefore, serious enforcement is inevitable. Currently, the FTC "surfs the net" daily looking to make sure websites have privacy policies or statements.