“Ignorance is bliss” comes to mind when thinking about the Internet and how much of my private information is out there for everyone to see. I went to check on my privacy settings on Facebook and it seems that I have been locked out of UT’s Wi-Fi because I apparently have been “hacked”- how fitting. Maybe I’ll remain ignorant for a little while longer…
My mother on the other hand is borderline paranoid when it comes to privacy issues. She didn’t even have our phone number or address listed in the white pages. She has a shredder and shreds every document that has any kind of personal information. She refuses to buy anything online because she doesn’t want to enter in her credit card information. She pays for email because she says her service ensures her privacy. I’ve been trying to convince her that Gmail is just fine, although after reading all these articles on privacy and the Internet, I think she might have a point.
According to the article, “When did Facebook become so uncool?” on CNN.com, “In a privacy policy shift, Google announced today that it will begin tracking users universally across all its services—Gmail, Search, YouTube and more—and sharing data on user activity across all of them. So much for the Google we signed up for.” It’s a tough situation. I can’t imagine my life without the amenities of Gmail or GPS on my phone (I have the worst directional skills- if you know me, you know this), but I don’t like the idea of being “tracked”. But, I don’t think I would be willing to give them up and who knows they might or are probably tracking me already.
I recently changed my privacy settings on Facebook, thanks to a friend telling me I didn’t have them set correctly. Now, I would say and think that I’m smarter than the average bear, but these policies are tricky. The article even says that Facebook’s privacy policies have been described as “overly confusing”. According to another article, “Selling you on Facebook” from the WSJ, “Even if people understand the permissions they grant, they might not grasp the unexpected ways that their data may be used in the future.”
So, now apparently even though I thought my settings were good to go, I need to be checking them often. That’s what smart people do, because the onus is on us…oops. I guess I shouldn’t have connected Draw Something to Facebook- although how else do you find your friends??
I understand that I should be personally responsible for ensuring that my information is kept private, but I also believe that companies have a responsibility as well. I shouldn’t have to keep changing my privacy settings. I should be asked to opt-in to sharing my information rather than always having to opt-out. The article, “A Web Pioneer Profiles Users by Name” was pretty troubling. I had never heard of RapLeaf and they believe they are doing nothing wrong since people have the opportunity to go on their website and opt-out. How am I supposed to know to do that? Are there other websites I need to go opt-out of?
People are starting to pull their information from Facebook because they don’t trust it. Mrs. Twombly started, who knows how many will follow. “Facebook itself acknowledges that privacy concerns could trip up the company in the future”, thus it’ll be interesting to see if they change their policies, since they are “profiting wildly on the backs of the 850 million people who share personal details about their lives on the social network”, they need their users probably more than we need them. Who cares if it’s free – they still have an ethical responsibility to not be shady.
As a Marketer, I like the idea of being able to have targeted advertisements and understand the benefits in having more consumer information to do just that. “RapLeaf executives say their business offers valuable consumer benefits by allowing people to see relevant advertising and content”. However, I would rather continue to get ads from CrewCuts - and no I do not have children, than be getting better targeted ads from companies that know how often I check Facebook and play Draw Something.
Lisa Pearson, VP of Global Marketing for Bazaarvoice, came and spoke to my Brand Management class on Marketing’s Role in the Social Data Revolution. She believes that the future for companies depends on how they filter through all the data to know their customers and act on the gained insights. “Social data is a critical component of your customer data set, and will increasingly become more important as the next generation of shoppers gains more purchasing power. It is this intersection between data and human behavior that is going to separate those companies who know and understand their customers from those who don’t. The companies that master customer data integration will delight their customers on a scale that redefines customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
There is no doubt that consumer data is critical, but the manner in which it is taken is extremely important. I think companies need to at the very least give their consumers knowledge of the data that they are gathering and how they are using it. And not knowledge in tini tiny print either. Thus, companies like RapLeaf that gather data on consumers without their knowledge seem wrong to me. Even companies like Facebook that have warnings need to make them so that a “reasonable” person can understand them, which according to a study at UC Berkeley, “More than half the people surveyed couldn't tell which types of data a sample app could collect on Facebook.”
Since these issues are relatively new, there is a lack of data-usage laws or norms. Thus, it will be interesting to see if/how companies policies will change regarding privacy on “one of the most coveted commodities in today's economy: personal data” and how consumers will respond.
