said by SANS Newsletter :

A study from the Ponemon Institute reveals a disconnect between what privacy and security officers believe about the level of protection afforded customer data and what the marketing department is actually doing with the data.

Eighty percent of respondents from marketing departments said their companies share customer email addresses with third parties, while just 47 percent of security and privacy officers said they shared email addresses.

Twenty-nine percent of marketing respondents said they believe their companies share Social Security numbers, while just seven percent of privacy professionals said their
companies shared that information. There is no reason to believe that conflicting responses came from within the same company, but the general trend is worrisome.

The study was funded by Strongmail.