Data Morality

This is an age of data. Some boffins say that within the next 6 months we will generate more data than was generated by mankind since documented existence. Not only does this spawn the most obvious question - are we equipped to convert this data into usable, commercially viable information but also a plethora of associated concerns: Where does all this data come from? What is it used for? Who regulates it? Can we afford the spectacular failures that result from an absence or inadequacy of the same?

The capture and analysis of data on customer preferences has been and will be the chief tool for a marketer. The Gold Standard of customer service - a single view of a customer is a result of just such an ability. When a business records past contacts I have made with them, incidents and outcomes etc. and makes it available Enterprise-wide, I can be assured any person I speak to in the Company will know what I’m talking about. This is a powerful feature. When I visit a website regularly to buy BBC Documentaries and Books on SLR Photography, it would be wise to direct me to the most appropriate pages and indeed make informed recommendations based on this proclivity.

But when does this win-win arrangement turn into a one sided encroachment into a customer’s privacy? It would be hard to say that cognition is a uniquely human faculty. What's uniquely human though is the lengths we'll go to either preserve information about ourselves or disseminate it. Both the sides will have reasonable arguments for defending their position. There will be people who would tweet about their recent consumption of an apple and there will be others who have blocked even their names from appearing in Facebook Search results.
I personally believe intrusion begins where volition ends. If there is something that I have tacitly agreed to without being presented with an option to step out of the arrangement, I may view it as an intrusion attempt. No one is interested in the fine print of the Data Privacy legislation, what everyone would be (or rather should be) interested in is the extent to which this is breached. Identity theft concerns aside, there is always a sense of unease about the consequences of our actions where we have voluntarily or involuntarily relinquished our cherished control over our personal information. In summary, I consider that the safe zone for the marketing professional (and the customer) is to allow for optionality, a human choice to customers. As for the customers, they’ll have to make up their own minds and judge if the benefits realized from waiving their rights to certain kinds of information offsets the moral concerns regarding this waiver.