This is a guest post by Heather Dorso, Sales Executive at TRUSTe Inc.

Web sites are increasingly asking consumers to allow access to their address books to send invitations to their friends on the consumer’s behalf. A common technique to increase the site subscriptions, and benefits for the user by bringing their friends into the service.

A recent article in the New York Times highlights the complexities of implementing an address book import feature. Done well, such a mechanism provides clear notice to consumers to ensure that they understand what will happen to the addresses in their address book, so the consumer has a meaningful opportunity to consent. Implemented poorly, it can leave consumers distressed and even mortified to find their personal and professional contacts getting messages demanding to know why they aren’t on the latest social networking site.

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