I’ve Read Every Privacy Policy on the Internet— This is What I’ve Learned

I read it something like: "We do not share ... information ... _except_ as part of [something you've] chosen to participate in."

Maybe they could bend it to say choosing to participate in the site allows them whatever they please? Even though the word 'specific' is used, how can you use it in a legal sense? (How broadly can you apply the use of the word?)

I hate reading privacy policies for the exact reason of not being able to absolutely discern how they affect me without having to get a lawyer.

It depends how you arrive at it. If you visit coupons.com, the couponsinc.com policy is linked at the bottom of the page, and the exception covers any meaningful use of coupons.com (but not random browsing without typing out any information; then again that may fall into the “non-identifying” part of the policy).

Not really. The problem is that this is a press release without the traditional "experts say" part, which ruins the persuasiveness of the interpretation. So you got left behind.

I too am having trouble with this interpretation, though I'm certainly among the paranoid on the subject. Here's their quote:

"We do not share personally identifiable information... except as part of a specific program or feature that you have chosen to participate in..."

and the OP's translation:

“We can share whatever you provide us whenever you touch or interact with our site”

To me these are not the same.

Yep, that's something that I definitely found. I think people are scared by Google/FB more because of their size/power than because their privacy policies are below industry par.

We did (its transitional right now, both sites work perfectly on the same back-end as we slowly inform our users), thanks for noticing. We're hard at work absorbing all of the privacy policies of the web, good things are happening for privacy. Would love your ideas or feedback, robert@safeshepherd.com