NEW YORK - Some popular online retailers don't do enough either to inform customers how their personal information could be used or to give them control over it, according to a public interest research group.

CyberStreetSmart.org, a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group, has issued "screen door" and "steel door" awards to retail Web sites after evaluating their protections for customers' personal information.

The group reviewed the privacy policies of 484 online retailers in October and November. Disneyshopping.com and homedepot.com received screen door awards, meaning they're not doing such a good job. Sites that won steel door awards include netflix.com, ralphlauren.com and rocawear.com.

Disneyshopping.com was rapped because its privacy policy is "very technical and lengthy" and may be hard for people to understand, said Tracy Shelton, a consumer attorney with NYPIRG. E-mails to Disney seeking comment were not immediately answered.

Homedepot.com was singled out because its policy says personal information may be transferred if the company is sold. The company said in a statement that the disclosure of potential transfers "is standard language throughout the industry.

"We take data security very seriously and have many proactive measures to ensure the protection of customer information," the company said.

Shelton said shoppers should take the time to find out about the privacy policies of the Web sites where they buy things.

"Their personally identifiable information is a big important asset that people have, and it should be protected," she said.

___

On The Web:

http://www.cyberstreetsmart.org