This morning’s New York Times carried word of fresh outrage over the collection of personal information. In this instance, Deutsche Telekom was outed by a German Green Party politician who discovered the mobile carrier tracks and stores his every move. To paraphrase the classic line of dialog from “Casablanca,” he was shocked, shocked to find data being collected. He shouldn’t have been, but the fault is not his, it is Deutsche Telekom’s.
The company, like so many others, have been willing to reap the benefits of its customers’ personal data — targeted advertising, product offerings, plan upgrades — without letting the rest of us in on the details. There are more than a handful of reasons why collecting and keeping personal data make sense for the consumer. Visa uses it to prevent fraud, AT&T relies on it to connect calls and properly assign charges and Safeway depends on it to make sure the coupons it gives to shoppers at check-out matter.
In each case, we consumers applaud (or, at least, approve) the effort. But our focus is on the outcome — secure credit card transactions, accurate billing and savings on cat food. These all matter to us. When we think about the process, we undervalue the benefit and overstate the harm. Just like the Green Party official, it’s not our fault. We need to be reminded more often of the value we get from sharing information. Instead we are more often reminded that the companies we rely on or encounter are not willing to rely on us.
Consider the public debate over behavioral targeting of advertising. The debate is not over whether it offers value to consumers, but about how we can control being tracked online. Companies have ceded the policy playing field to advocates and others when what is needed is balance.
Look no further than the announcement from the folks at Mozilla and Microsoft about new tools to give consumers more control. Positive steps in a public affairs campaign to avoid the blunt instrument of legislation, but far short of helping those of us who use Firefox or IE to truly understand the trade-off.
Instead of making data collection “yes or no,” it needs to be more “when and why.” It won’t be easy.
At the most recent Privacy Summit of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, there were sessions on the rising tide (and use) of personal information in health care, financial services, advertising, retailing and more industry segments. The lawyers and academics who made the presentations were well-meaning professionals who, by nature, see data collection through a prism of risk or research, all part of that “yes or no” approach.
If the goal is a smarter, more loyal customer base, business and marketing executives are going to have to take their turn at the microphone. Otherwise, we will continue to be shocked, shocked that data is being collected.
