Online, but not on trial

… though privacy issues still loom large You don’t often hear about massive legal and legislative action against the online sweepstakes industry — and online sweepstakes companies are working hard to keep it that way. However, like many Internet-based businesses, online sweepstakes need to avoid the wrath of privacy advocates. To stay on their good side, practices such as selling personal information to third parties or sending unsolicited e-mail to customers are becoming taboo. While a direct-mail sweepstakes is a promotion designed to sell products, an Internet-based sweepstakes is supposed to collect information, and that distinction helps protect online sweepstakes companies from the barrage of lawsuits filed by states alleging miscommunication and outright fraud that …