Over the past couple of days, I've been blogging about a report issued by a group of well known privacy and consumer advocacy groups regarding behavioral targeting online. Today, I'd like to summarize what the groups say motivated them to publish the paper.
Starting with the concept of Fair Information Practices, a set of principles used by governments to regulate the privacy of individuals' information, the group argues that legislation needs to be updated to ensure that their application is relevant to the world of online data collection.
Two trends make this a necessity, the group argues. First, more people are doing a lot more things online, some of which involves very sensitive information. Second, the collection of data of where people go and what content they consume, is becoming more widespread. Much of this is done without the visitor's knowledge. This information is then used to serve up advertising that is targeted toward the visitors.
The groups note the following concerns:
Even if a company's upper management culture may discourage such it, time has shown again and again that a loose cannon will step outside the lines to get an edge on the competition.
The nice thing about a corporate blog is that it gives you a chance to be transparent with your customers and give them a chance to connect with you voluntarily.
Transparency comes with your posts because the content is the same regardless of the visitor. No one can accuse you of serving up one kind of information to a favored demographic.
Second, customers get to decide whether to form the relationship through comment submissions or call-to-action responses. A customer who comes to you is going to be a lot easier to sell to than one you're tracking down through everything short of an Orwell novel.
Starting with the concept of Fair Information Practices, a set of principles used by governments to regulate the privacy of individuals' information, the group argues that legislation needs to be updated to ensure that their application is relevant to the world of online data collection.
Two trends make this a necessity, the group argues. First, more people are doing a lot more things online, some of which involves very sensitive information. Second, the collection of data of where people go and what content they consume, is becoming more widespread. Much of this is done without the visitor's knowledge. This information is then used to serve up advertising that is targeted toward the visitors.
The groups note the following concerns:
- The lack of disclosure about the data collection is invasive.
- The type of targeting used in advertising could be predatory in the sense that explotivie deals could be served up to those most likely to buy into a misleading pitch.
- Targeting could be discriminatory, with certain classes of consumers getting better offers than others based on things like race or income.
- The data collected by one entity could be sold to another entity without consent of the person being tracked. Moreover, the information could be used for identity theft or even exploited by criminals or hostile parties.
Even if a company's upper management culture may discourage such it, time has shown again and again that a loose cannon will step outside the lines to get an edge on the competition.
The nice thing about a corporate blog is that it gives you a chance to be transparent with your customers and give them a chance to connect with you voluntarily.
Transparency comes with your posts because the content is the same regardless of the visitor. No one can accuse you of serving up one kind of information to a favored demographic.
Second, customers get to decide whether to form the relationship through comment submissions or call-to-action responses. A customer who comes to you is going to be a lot easier to sell to than one you're tracking down through everything short of an Orwell novel.
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