No Privacy Policy, No IBM Web Ads

International Business Machines Corp., the No. 1 computer maker, sent a letter to 350 U.S. and Canadian Web sites on which it advertises, saying that as of June 1 it will advertise only on sites that state their privacy policy. IBM spent $45 million in 1998 on Internet advertising and expects to budget $60 million this year, the company said. IBM found that only 30% of the sites on which it advertises in the U.S. and Canada have stated privacy policies.