Meghan Kelly reports:
Deals giant, Groupon, e-mailed its users Saturday to announce changes to its Privacy Statement. The changes are aimed to bring more transparency to Groupon, as well as make the language more accessible to the general public.
Notable changes include the redefinition of “personal information” collected by Groupon. Since the inception of “Now! Deals”, the company is calling out geo-targeted data in the statement. This is information to be used to, “offer you real-time deals nearby”. Safe enough. But what is alarming is a statement found in the “When and Why Groupon Discloses Personal Information” section. It reads:
“We encourage Groupon Merchants and business partners to adopt and post privacy policies. However, the use of your Personal Information by such parties is governed by the privacy policies of such parties and is not subject to our control.”
Read more on VentureBeat.
Kara Swisher of cnet also covers the change and provides copies of the changed policy and email to users.