I wrote this article today in the old JobStreet Blog on the WordPress server in my capacity as the Content Manager. The blog has been taken down because WordPress considered our material as too commercial.
So, while we at JobStreet.com are still working out an alternative solution – most probably we’ll host the blog ourselves on one of our servers – let me reproduce the full article below.
But first, I must comment that privacy of personal data has suddenly become a big issue in Malaysia, no less because some politicians found themselves on CTOS Sdn Bhd’s blacklist of names.
There have been arguments and counter-arguments about what are right or wrong about CTOS’s activities but my opinion is that if the company had obtained all the information only from publicly accessible sources, they have not done anything wrong. However, I do disagree with the CTOS stand that the onus is on the blacklisted parties to show proof that their credit standings are now good.
Here is my article from the original JobStreet Blog:
There’s been quite a lot of noise lately in the Malaysian press about privacy matters after a few people complained about difficulties due to some credit checkings from independent sources. A lot of comments and opinions have also appeared in on-line articles.
Just today, I was alerted to an on-line article which somehow took a long shot by tying in JobStreet’s name. But it was nothing short of flattering.
What appeared on one of CNET’s blogs was this one-sentence extract:
…Jobstreet, an MSC company that made a strong commitment to privacy rights, even without legislation or regulation on the subject and CHOSE to be a company with a responsible attitude towards data collection.
The part highlighted as an emphasis is mine. I’m glad that there are independent observers who appreciate the extent that JobStreet.com has gone in order to preserve the privacy of people who have chosen to become our members.
Internally, we are guided by several principles but foremost among them is the principle of privacy of personal data. When people sign up to become our members, they create their on-line resumes and in the process, they disclose information which JobStreet.com guards very closely.
Resumes are only disclosed when our members choose to send their electronic resumes to employers. Personal information is shown only when our members decide for themselves that they want it. Otherwise, in all other cases, nothing escapes us. Not even our staff have common access to this information, so we ensure there is no abuse of any kind.
Of course, we do make use of the resume information for matching purposes so that we can deliver the most appropriate jobs to you. Of course, we also send targeted emails to you, emails which we believe should interest you. But by and large, these are generally the extent of our activities.
How do we ensure that there isn’t any abuse? We do this by becoming a member of TRUSTe. This is an independent, non-profit, world-wide privacy initiative dedicated to building users’ trust and confidence on the Internet and accelerating growth of the Internet industry.
On the TRUSTe website, you can see what this organisation is all about. It’s written that they certify and monitor web site privacy and email policies, monitor practices and resolve thousands of consumer privacy problems every year. TRUSTe has about 2,500 members world-wide, including several Fortune500 companies.
JobStreet.com subscribed to the principles of TRUSTe way back in 1999. Every year, we are audited by them and we have to explain how we go about to implement their guidelines. Even if we are not the only on-line recruitment website world-wide with TRUSTe certification, we are certainly regarded as the first among all of them.
Trust has to be earned and we at JobStreet.com value all the trust that our members have given to us. You can rest easy that this trust will not be taken for granted.