Social Profiling?
Several recent articles bring to light the gray areas and issues that emerge as technology advances
forward at such a speed that leaves society and privacy regulations and guidelines
playing catch up.
One interesting article, in Wired, explores how Klout scores
influence job hunters, and another article, in Forbes, focuses on one retailer's data mining that can determine, with uncanny precision, who is expecting a baby (in order to send discount
coupons for baby items in the hopes of a long relationship and CLV -- in some cases, coupons were sent before expectant parents had a
chance to share the good news with friends and family).
A Washington Post blogger also probed into these and other cases to explore data mining and its collision with privacy.
In class we had discussed
privacy of PII on the Internet, and the preference for industry self regulation. When cases such as these emerge, we need to
as an industry be prepared to track, evaluate and respond to these challenges.
This issue like many other issues on the internet calls for a balance- a balance between mining data to gain better insight into your business and to provide you with actionable insight, and the need to maintain privacy and security of user data. It is a fine line that needs to be maintained by organizations, if they want to continue to leverage the power of data analytical applications and business intelligence solutions.
ReplyDeletePersonally Identifiable Information needs to be protected and encrypted both at rest in the database and while in transit over the network- this is a mandate according to the PCI DSS regulation (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards)