The Institute of Business Ethics proposes that a company protect the privacy of stakeholders by considering these questions of its third-party data providers:

• Does our company conduct appropriate due diligence when sharing with or acquiring data from third parties?
• Do third-party data providers follow similar ethical standards in the acquisition and transmission of the data?
• ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
• What type of due diligence with regard to a third party sharing and acquiring data would be appropriate for the company (or company accountant or data scientist) to perform? An audit? A questionnaire? Standards written into a contract?
• How would you assess whether the third-party data provider follows ethical standards in the acquisition and transmission of the data?