Privacy-information services: The free, the cheap and the pricey

A top affliction of privacy professionals is the growing complexity of privacy laws. The number of jurisdictions regulating data privacy and the number of other laws in which privacy provisions are tucked has increased with no letup since 2000. Like the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, the tiniest jurisdictions are now lassoing their privacy ropes around the mightiest of corporations.

Where does this leave those who are charged with keeping their organizations privacy-compliant? Desperately looking for a way to organize news about all of these developments.

I recently surveyed the landscape of possible solutions to this problem. What did I find? Three different approaches: free Web sites, newsletters and news feeds; fee-based periodicals; and fee-based databases, such as Nymity's PrivaWorks, Cecile Park Publishing's DataGuidance and law firm Morrison and Foerster LLP's Summit Privacy.

What were the pros and cons of each approach?

Free sources

Privacy leaders with no budget will want to exploit what's free, including these options:

• Morrison & Foerster's Privacy Library, probably the most comprehensive and current free online listing of privacy laws in 95 countries.

• Law firm Baker & McKenzie's annual Global Privacy Handbook, which is distributed to clients and friends.

• Computerworld's own Security Newsletter, which offers a regular look at news about the technical threats to personal data.

• The International Association of Privacy Professionals' Daily Dashboard, Canada Dashboard Digest and monthly Inside 1to1: Privacy. These are the best available free news feeds on privacy.

I've been a Daily Dashboard junkie for years, and keep an online collection of links to hundreds of articles featured in the Dashboard.

When it comes to analysis of developments in privacy law, many law and consulting firms also offer free newsletters. Table 1 offers a full list, including instructions on how to sign up.