EOTO- Concerns about Consumer Privacy
Posted by: charlesfaulkner on: October 31, 2008
The global communication issue that concerns me is the ability of an entity to use information it collects on consumers for marketing purposes. Take for example the trip you take to the mall where you purchase a new shirt. The sales clerk takes your method of payment, but also asks for either your email address or phone number. During my wife’s recent pregnancy, I noticed almost all the maternity stores in the mall practiced some form of information gathering. The results of both collection practices results in all sorts of media delivered to you in print and electronic format. After your visit or purchase you can expect to receive magazine subscription offers, clothing catalogs, coupon books, surveys from your favorite stores, and more. When we register for an e-mail address we ultimately receive SPAM. Sometimes we receive these unwanted marketing messages because we signed-up for some information program, but in many cases an algorithm program is employed to send out massive emails to match your specific email address. The newest example is the text message from a marketer associated with the recently dialed toll-free number or business.
The advent of email, mobile devices, and networked computers means that our personal information is collected by corporations, companies, stores, or other marketing databases. We must also consider how easily this information is provided by the consumer and evaluate how the convenience of the information age compels us to hand over our private information without forethought, suspicion, or concern. For example, if the clerk at the clothing store while processing your purchase asks for your phone number do you give it to them? Would you give this information to a stranger? What authority does the store clerk hold that makes us hand over the digits? Because of the development of electronic shopping, online banking, and similar business affiliated programs, the population has grown accustomed to handing over personal information for identification purposes. Quite often the last four numbers of your social security number, birthdate, email address, or phone numbers are required to access passwords, log in to a secure site, or to register for a program. As we have grown accustomed to these mass communication technologies, we seem to have become oblivious to the threats to our own privacy.
It’s easy to see why groups want this information. They can track your purchases, estimate sales trends, or determine if you are attempting to return merchandise fraudulently. Many websites work collaboratively with other businesses to advertise their products and will co-register you into an allied company’s database. Careerbuilder.com , a website that serves job seekers, offers the opportunity for you to receive information from the University of Phoenix before you can post a resume online. Surely the practice of collaborative marketing is successful and lucrative. The concern though that we are unknowingly turning over our personal information would suggest that we are victims of exploitation. Business will begin to employ new schemes and technologies to market their products, as the public learns to employ anti-SPAM and related filtering technologies. We should be concerned about the lengths entities will go to in order to sell their products orsell your information.
How do we better safeguard our personal information? How do marketing companies share personal information and how do they obtain it? What efforts are companies and businesses taking to protect consumer’s information? How do companies determine if their marketing programs are considered repulsive by the consumer? What lessons can be learned from the development of SPAM-filtering technologies as they relate to better marketing principles where the consumer desires to be contacted ?
The Consumer Privacy Guide:
http://www.consumerprivacyguide.org/
Code of Conduct for Global Marketing
http://www.promotionworld.com/se/articles/article/081015mobilemarketinggets.html
Federal Trade Commission’s page on Privacy
Tell-All Checkouts from Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092200782.html
CAS-Online
5 Responses to "EOTO- Concerns about Consumer Privacy"
November 5, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Charles,
I was very intrigued by your global communication issue. When I was thinking of a topic, your’s never crossed my mind but I feel passionate about this issue of consumer privacy. It bothers me that SPAM has actually found its way into text messaging. I don’t know how but I’ve started to receive texts about my horoscope! Who knows what Website picked up that information! And I feel for your poor wife who was pregnant and had to deal with maternity stores that also gather personal information. You would think that it would be too time consuming and expensive to advertise to so many people.
I remember the Do Not Call List where you could have your name taken off a solicitor/company database. I really appreciate that idea, as most people do. It’s such a bother having to deal with unwanted phone calls and emails. I feel sorry for the people who make a living that way. I always said that my most hated career (if you can call it that) would be that of a telemarketer..or a trash collector. Ironically, I’d rather do the latter and make a little more money..ha!
I enjoyed reading through the links you listed above. The only thing I would address in more detail are your specific fears about consumer privacy and how it can be eliminated/dissapated over time.
November 5, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I may have been unclear about consumer privacy above..of course it shouldn’t be eliminated. It should be strengthened. What I meant is for you to futhur explain how consumer privacy can be upholded in the future.
PS: I like your layout! 
November 7, 2008 at 1:01 am
Charles,
This is another great topic that sheds some light on information-gathering techniques that just aren’t talked about enough. Great thought process here. I don’t think any of us are conspiracy theorists, but we need to know where all this information is going that is being collected about us is going and for what reasons.
I think your statement, “As we have grown accustomed to these mass communication technologies, we seem to have become oblivious to the threats to our own privacy,” brings up another brilliant point. Information-collecting is very subtle – I have given my phone number out to retailers without blinking, which surprises me to admit it. It’s like advertising embedded in a blockbuster video hit that we inadvertently absorb – sometimes, we do not even realize we are partaking in information-collecting because the means of gathering it are so subtle and seamless.
This loops back to my post on Katie Lowrance’s blog about not hearing enough about what is being done with this data – spam? Selling to third party advertisers? What is the margin of possibility that someone handling this information could abuse it?
I recall a recent incident where I was buying a couple of sweaters from a well-known retailer, and since that particular branch did not have my size, I was encouraged to participate in a program that mails you the merchandise from another story, which carried the size I wanted. The salesperson had to process my credit card manually – through one of those slide machines – and wrote everything else by hand. After she was done, she glanced up at me and said, “Don’t worry, this information is processed right away, so your credit card information isn’t just floating around out there.”
Which made me think of another point: is print or digital filing more reliable? I suppose I felt uneasy about the print documentation of my credit card information because it would have to be processed by a human, not a computer. So from this example, human interference with personal information is alarming. This makes the unknown processes behind information-collecting that much more ominous – what goes on with this information and how is it used?
As a final note, I literally have one email account dedicated for spamming. It is the one I plug in whenever I’m signing up for an account on a website, wanting to get coupons for my favorite stores, or paying my bills. My second account is for personal interaction with friends and family. Whew! So much to manage in the digital sphere.
Kennedy
November 7, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I agree that it’s annoying to be bombarded with unsolicited marketing messages, and potentially a privacy threat. You bring up a couple of big issues here: security of personal information and its potential misuse, and consumer marketing practices.
Regarding consumer marketing you say, “Surely the practice of collaborative marketing is successful and lucrative.” Absolutely! Marketers have never before had the technology to target their best potential customers at this level. Just to offer another perspective on consumer marketing practices, this is not all bad. Like any other technology-driven practice, consumer information-sharing can be used for both good and evil. Your wife may have actually enjoyed some of the catalogs that came in the mail as a result of the maternity store’s information-sharing. Think about what happens when you move into a new home. You get mailers from all sorts of local businesses and services, some of them really useful. While you may have to stand over the recycling bin every day when the mail comes, you can quickly sort through and find the information that is valuable to you.
However, the case for the benefits of consumer-centric marketing falls apart when we are faced with information pollution. We should be able to control the flow to a greater extent. In 1999, Seth Godin published his groundbreaking book Permission Marketing, making the case for “opt in” marketing practices, particularly related to e-mail marketing. Unfortunately, the good practices he recommended are not always employed. Many companies now are conducting “opt out” marketing, where consumers have to ask to be removed from a list. This is where we’ve gone wrong and where consumers are really having to fight back. Even worse, some companies are making it increasingly difficult for people to opt out. Facebook’s “Beacon” has been the source of a lot of controversy. What initially sounded like a great idea for Facebook users and marketers has become a privacy disaster. As the Internet and social networking sites continue to grow, there is going to have to be tighter regulation.
It’s unfortunate that something with the potential to make our lives easier has actually become such a source of frustration. Hopefully consumer protection organizations and the many companies out there employing legitimate marketing practices will work together to get us back on the right path.
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- Tyler Ritter: I agree that it's annoying to be bombarded with unsolicited marketing messages, and potentially a privacy threat. You bring up a couple of big issues
- kennedyelliott: Charles, This is another great topic that sheds some light on information-gathering techniques that just aren’t talked about enough. Great though
- klowrance: I may have been unclear about consumer privacy above..of course it shouldn't be eliminated. It should be strengthened. What I meant is for you to futh
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November 5, 2008 at 3:22 am
I am concerned about the privacy issue as well. It seems like every one I do business with – from my doctor to Joe Plumber – wants my email address. In order to get discounts at the grocery store, I have to let them scan my bar code tag. If I buy dog food, they print out coupons for more dog food.
I am concerned about information gathering that is going on through Internet transactions. On one hand, I like to know when my favorite bookstore is having a sale; on the other hand, the job of managing spam and the flyers piling into my snail mail box is getting tougher. And that’s just a nuisance; the real threat is that the information might be used against me some day by an unscrupulous person. Does my employer really need to know my credit score?
Why do medical and dental providers insist you give them your social security number? Why can’t you just give them your medical insurance name, group number and identification number? It makes me nervous because the medical industry is getting so lucrative that people who made fortunes in drug traffic are investing in medical practices, according to my nephew, an FBI agent.
Thanks for your EOTO report, Charles. The Consumer Privacy.org site led me to GetNetWise, which in turn took me to OnGuardOnline and StaySafeOnline, federal sites that offer very good interactive quizzes to allow you to test your knowledge in protecting your privacy and security. It was fun to test myself and the results were eye-opening. But I’m not telling how I did. That’s top-secret, private information.