Blog #5: My views about personal privacy in this digital world... (Due Date: April 11, 2012)

I think if you ask 10 different random people about personal privacy in the Digital World you will get 10 different responses. The reason I think that you will get 10 different responses is because people will think of it from all different angles, such as:
• technology required to enable personal privacy
• process needed to enable personal privacy
• responsibility for the protection of the personal privacy of the consumer
• gathering/collecting, transferring, storing of consumer data with or without them knowing
• monetization of data for the corporation to continue operating as a business

Unfortunately, I also agree with Professor Walls that marketers have not thought enough about this topic so that they understand their ethical boundaries in their own marketing practices. I believe part of the reason is because the companies they work for are purchasing the data; hence they believe that the responsible party for protecting the consumer’s privacy is the company they have purchased the data from which it is to a certain extent. If their company is the one collecting the data, it is typically not their department, but instead a technology department or analytics department or customer insights department, hence once again they do not feel accountable for the consumer’s privacy. In both of these scenarios, the gathering/collecting, transferring, and storing of the data is not the marketers responsibility, but once the marketer receives the data, the usage and sharing of the data becomes his/her responsibility. I also believe ensuring the data is encrypted is his/her responsibility.

Since I use to work as a programmer and I specialized in data, databases, data warehousing and encryption algorithms, I feel strongly about how marketers should handle data. I think once the data is on one of their devices it is their responsibility to protect the data as if it was their own personal information. Even when I moved into consulting, myself and my team would deal with client data on almost every project and I always made sure the client data was encrypted and password protected in case of machine theft.

Data Gathering in Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, mySpace and other players in the social media sector, are under increasing pressure to prove to their investors that they do in fact have a sustainable business model, which brings us to both advertising and gathering data about their users to be able to sell it. Thus far, they have been able to gather data and monetize it, but the first problem is that they have not addressed the public’s concerns around how the data is gathered/collected, transferred and stored. The second problem is that users claim they are unaware of this practice of gathering/collecting their data and selling it. The third problem in my mind is that their users do not find it important to become well –educated on the implications of not setting strict privacy settings.

How is data gathered/collected, transferred and stored?
Since data collection processes are like a black box it is difficult for the users to trust the companies collecting the data. If the data collection process was secure and it protected the users identify then the process would most likely be available to the public, hence one can assume one of those 2 are not being followed. Since the social media companies have highly competent technology folks, I would like to believe the data is collection process is secure; however the anonymity of the user is probably not protected. Even if these companies are only storing i.p. addresses of devices that are being used at time of login I could figure out who the user is.

Why don’t social media users know their data is being collected and sold?
I think people know their data is being collected; they just don’t care as much as they should. If you listen to the radio, watch TV or read then by now you should know and if you don’t then I think it’s safe to assume you may not even be online. If people were concerned, then they should set stricter social media privacy settings and stay off social media when they are not at home because it has been made clear that location data is also being tracked.

Why don’t social media users think it is important to set strict privacy settings?
The most popular social media sites make it easy enough to set strict privacy settings and I don’t believe they should get blamed for playing fast and loose with privacy, when it really is the lack of education and know-how of their users who are actually being poor stewards of their own privacy. I also don’t think they should be blamed for selling their data since they need to run their business in a profitable way. I think that they can sell data and remove identification tags to ensure their user’s privacy is protected.

Data Gathering on mobile devices by Apple & Google
Both Apple and Google have admitted to collecting data about their users including location data. Exactly what data elements are collected, how they are stored and for how long isn’t clear. If the data is collected, especially by Google to make their maps better, make their GPS navigation system better and understand their customers better I am completely fine with it.

Where I think the problem is sharing it with third-party companies without the user's consent or knowledge; however if the third party is a partner that develops either Google or Apple technology and it is being used to improve the technology I am still okay with it. I want better traffic updates, I want better maps, I want a better GPS system, I want to be able to check-in, I want strong wi-fi capabilities, I want better hardware products, so I understand collecting my data helps with this. Also on my Android based phone I am able to select if I want to share my location data and I have it set to no which I believe is working and if it is not, then that is a problem.

Transmission of location data raises questions about who has access to what could be sensitive information about location and movement of a phone user. If the information is stored internally with Google or Apple and only shared with the people that need the information, then I personally think that is fine.

If the information is sold to third-parties, then the mobile phone users need to understand who those third parties are and need to be given the chance to opt out. Cell phone users already pay for a service and a device, hence these companies don’t need to monetize data, it is completely different from social media because we are not paying social media sites for their service or convenience.

I think everyone understands the concept of you can't get anything for free.